Criminal case opened against 78-year-old activist in Belarus for wearing protest badge

Belarusian authorities have opened a criminal case against 78-year-old Belarusian activist Nina Bahinskaya, one of the key figures in the 2020 anti-regime protests in Belarus.

Bahinskaya has been charged with “repeated violation of the procedure for organising or holding mass events”, Belarusian human rights group Viasna reported on Tuesday. If found guilty, she could face up to three years in prison.

According to Viasna, Bahinskaya is being persecuted by the authorities after she was seen wearing a white-red-white protest badge on the streets of Minsk in 2024. The white-red-white protest flag, seen as a symbol of Belarusian independence, was widely used during the 2020 protests against Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, in which Bahinskaya was detained several times by police.

Bahinskaya was fined three separate times in 2024, for a total of 7,200 Belarusian rubles (€1,942), for unauthorised picketing after “demonstrating white-red-white symbols”, Viasna wrote, adding that she refused to attend her trials “as a matter of principle”. She was also taken for psychiatric evaluation several times while the police investigated her case.

In 2021, Belarus criminalised repeatedly organising or holding mass events as a response to the widespread protests that erupted before and after the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections which saw Lukashenko re-elected for his sixth consecutive term. Six people have been convicted under the charge to date, Viasna wrote.

Bahinskaya, a geologist by profession, has been participating in protests across Belarus since 1988, and has supported various initiatives to protect human rights and preserve historical memory.