Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus to Poland in 2020 following widely condemned elections, has been charged in her home country with a series of crimes including treason. Her trial is set for 17 January in Minsk where she will be tried in absentia.
Besides treason, she stands accused of: incitement of racial, religious and national hatred; interference in Belarusian electoral processes; squatting or illegally occupying property as well as financing said occupancies; organising mass rioting; inciting pogroms; arson; destruction of property - and armed resistance to Belarusian authorities.
The EU refused to acknowledge the 2020 Belarusian elections, in which Lukashenka declared himself the victor, and imposed sanctions for "repression and election falsification".
Sources: PAP, Council of the EU press release
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