Ukraine’s National Police is investigating a criminal case against Anzhelina Diash, who has protested against Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, on charges of “hooliganism with aggravating circumstances.”
Kyiv’s Pechersk Court on July 22 imposed travel restrictions on Diash, an activist of the Femen protest group, and required her to submit her foreign passport.
On July 21, she bared her breasts with “Long live Belarus” written on them during a meeting between Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and shouted the same slogan, after which she was arrested. “Long live Belarus” is the main motto of the Belarusian opposition against Lukashenko.
Femen activist Anzhelina Diash staging a protest on July 21 during a meeting between Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
Severe penalty
If convicted, Diash can be sentenced to two to five years in prison. According to the police, the “aggravating circumstance” is that she allegedly resisted a security guard who stopped her and threw her out of the premises.
“In this case it’s absurd because it’s obvious that the girl’s resistance is linked to the fact that she was brutally seized by a man, and that’s a natural reaction, not an intentional one, and it’s not explained by any ‘hooliganism’ motive,” lawyer Yevhenia Zakrevska told the Kyiv Post. “Though this is secondary, since if we discuss the correctness of the article (on hooliganism with aggravating circumstances) we must agree that this is a criminally punishable offense, which is absurd.”
Yevhen Zakharov from the Kharkiv Human Rights Group told the Kyiv Post that Diash’s arrest was the first time that he remebers in recent years that such a harsh penalty was being imposed on a peaceful activist.
National Police spokesman Yaroslav Trakalo said he could not comment on the case.
Diash and Femen have been compared to Russia’s Pussy Riot punk band. Three members of the band were sentenced to two years in prison in 2012 for staging a protest in a Russian church.
Given Poroshenko’s presence during Diash’s protest, her case has also been compared to that against activist Yury Pavlenko, who tore up a Poroshenko portrait in 2014. Last year he was sentenced to 4.5 years on charges of hooliganism and seizure of a government building during clashes with the police.
Belarusian link
In 2011 three Femen activists who protested in Minsk against Lukashenko disappeared. After they were found, they said that Belarusian KGB operatives had tortured them and threatened to burn them.
Along with Russia, Lukashenko’s regime is one of Europe’s most brutal dictatorships. At least four major opponents of Lukashenko have disappeared during his rule, and dozens of political prisoners have been held in custody in Belarus. Belarusian authorities deny killing Lukashenko’s opponents.
Lukashenko is also a military and political ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Russia and Belarus form a confederation called the “United State of Russia and Belarus.”
Femen’s history
Diash’s protest marks the first major appearance by Femen in Ukraine since the group moved its headquarters from Kyiv to Paris in 2013 after its activists said they were escaping political persecution in the country.
Femen, founded in 2008, has organized protests against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Putin, as well as in support of LGBT and women’s rights.
Femen activists have been regularly arrested and prosecuted in criminal cases in Ukraine and other countries.
