Belarusian activist Yana Pinchuk, accused of extremism and extradited from Russia, placed in pre-trial detention centre in Belarus

Belarusian activist Yana Pinchuk, suspected of administering “extremist” Telegram channels, has been taken to a pre-trial detention centre in Vitebsk, Belarus, reports Telegram channel Free Yana Pinchuk, created to support her.

Furthermore, Belarusian General Prosecutor’s Office declared that, on 1 September, Russia had extradited the activist to Belarus so she could be held criminally responsible there.

On 9 August, Pinchuk’s lawyer Maria Belyaeva said that her client had been transferred from a Saint Petersburg detention centre. Afterwards, the lawyer was not able to find out Pinchuk’s whereabouts. Telegram channel Free Yana Pinchuk previously reported that it was no longer possible to send the woman a letter to the Saint Petersburg pre-trial detention centre.

At the end of July, the Second Saint Petersburg Court of Appeal upheld the decision on Pinchuk’s deportation to Belarus.

Yana Pinchuk is 24, she has been living in Russia for the past several years. In November, the woman was detained and sent to the Saint Petersburg pre-trial centre upon request from the Belarusian authorities. Back in Belarus, Pinchuk could face up to 19 years of imprisonment under articles on inciting ethnic hatred, calling for actions against the national security, slander, and others.

According to the investigation, from September 2020 to November 2021, Pinchuk was an administrator of three “extremist” Telegram channels: Vitebsk 97%, Orsha 97%, and Novopoltsk and Polotsk 97%.