A court in Minsk found TAM.BY project manager Daria Danilova guilty of gross violation of public order (Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code) and sentenced her to one year and four months in prison, writes Belarusian service of Radio Liberty.
Given the time spent in the pre-trial detention center, Danilova was released in the courtroom. She spent more than 11 months in the pre-trial detention center.
This is the first sentence handed down in the case of the TUT.BY portal, the publication indicates.
Daria Danilova, along with 14 other representatives of TUT.BY, was detained in May 2021, after employees of the State Control Committee came with searches to the management of the portal and hosting provider Hoster.by, as well as to the homes of company employees.
The department opened a criminal case on tax evasion (Part 2 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code of Belarus). In October 2021, the Investigative Committee of Belarus announced that a new criminal case had been initiated against the employees of the TUT.BY publication – on inciting hatred (part 3 of article 130 of the Criminal Code).
September 1, 2021 to freedom released CEO of Hoster.by Sergey Povalishev. In January 2022, from house arrest freed Yulia Chernyavskaya, widow of TUT.BY founder Yury Zisser. On March 11, Deputy Chief Accountant of the portal Maria Novik, Deputy Director General for General Affairs Irina Rybalko and Chief Accountant Anzhela Assad left the Minsk pre-trial detention center. A week later, Olga Loiko, editor-in-chief of the political and economic news block, Alexander Daineko, deputy general director for technical issues, and Andrey Avdeev, manager of Publisher Box, left the pre-trial detention center. Their measure of restraint was changed, but they are still under investigation.
Lyudmila Chekina, former director general of TUT.BY, former editor-in-chief Marina Zolotova, journalist Yelena Tolkacheva and chief engineer Alla Lapatko remain in the pre-trial detention center.
