Political analyst Valeryia Kastsiuhova faces up to 12 years in prison

Valeryia Kastsiuhova, a well-known political scientist, editor of the analytical website Nashe Mnenie (Our Opinion), editor and compiler of the Belarusian Yearbook, and head of the expert monitoring group Belarus in Focus, was detained on 30 June 2021. Today it has become known that she was charged with calling for actions aimed at harming national security and a conspiracy to seize state power. She faces up to 12 years in prison.

A similar charge was brought against the political expert Tatsiana Kouzina, the member of the Coordination Council Presidium Maria Kalesnikava, the Pushkin scholar Aliaksandr Fiaduta, and the lawyer Yury Ziankovich.

Valeryia Kastsiuhova’s political position was rather moderate, as she always looked for a compromise.