The human rights defender had been behind bars since September 2020. The court, which took place in September 2022, sentenced her to 15 years in a penal colony.
Marfa Rabkova. Photo from social media
Marfa Rabkova is among a group of political prisoners who were released on March 19, reported «Viasna».
The coordinator of Viasna's volunteer service was detained by GUBOP officers in Minsk on September 17, 2020, as she was returning from the Jan Karski award ceremony given to Viasna. Her home was searched, and Marfa, along with her husband Vadzim, were detained and taken to GUBOP. Initially, she was charged only under Part 3 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code — for organizing volunteer observers for the presidential elections as part of the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections".
Later, the charges were significantly expanded and included: Part 1 of Article 293 (organization of mass riots); Part 1 of Article 13, Part 2 of Article 293 (preparation and intentional creation of conditions for participation in mass riots); Part 3 of Article 361 (calls for actions aimed at harming the national security of the Republic of Belarus); Part 1 of Article 361-1 (creation of an extremist formation); Part 1 of Article 285 (leadership of a criminal organization); Part 3 of Article 130 (incitement of social hatred by a group of persons); Part 2 of Article 339 (malicious hooliganism); Part 3 of Article 339 (especially malicious hooliganism); Article 341 (desecration of structures and damage to property); Part 3 of Article 218 (intentional destruction or damage to another's property, committed by an organized group); Part 2 of Article 295-3 (illegal actions concerning objects whose destructive effect is based on the use of flammable substances, committed by a group of persons).
The investigation claimed that from 2005 to 2020, unidentified individuals, with the participation of anarchist Aliaksandr Frantskevich and human rights defender Marfa Rabkova, united "a number of organized criminal groups": "Revolutionary Action", "People's Self-Defense" and "Revolutionary Action".
According to the investigation, these associations became part of an "international criminal organization" as its structural units. Frantskevich and Rabkova, the investigation claims, were allegedly the organizers of the arson attack on the Homiel District tax inspection office in March 2017 using "Molotov cocktails".
The trial of Rabkova and nine other political prisoners began in April 2022 and was held behind closed doors.
During her detention, even before the trial, Marfa's grandmother and father passed away, and she experienced health problems. Investigators repeatedly offered her cooperation: in exchange for admitting guilt, they promised to change her measure of restraint and release her to her ailing parents. But Marfa remained steadfast in her position. She did not plead guilty.
Marfa Rabkova at trial on April 25, 2022. Video screenshot
In September 2022, the court sentenced the woman to 14 years and 9 months of imprisonment in a general-regime penal colony. She served her term in women's penal colony No. 4 in Homiel. Her husband was waiting for her to be released.
In March 2023, Marfa was included in the "list of terrorists", and in May of the same year — in the "list of extremists".
The future human rights defender was born on January 6, 1995, in Dobrush. After graduating from high school in 2012, she enrolled in the specialty "Biology and Geography" at the Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University (Minsk). In autumn 2015, the young woman was detained during a small march near the university building. Because of this, before the winter session in early 2016, the university administration forced Marfa to withdraw her documents from the final year.
In 2017, she attempted to reinstate herself in the same specialty at the A. Kuleshov Mogilev State University but was unsuccessful. In the same year, she enrolled in EHU (European Humanities University) for the specialty "International Law".
Alongside her studies, Marfa was a volunteer for several years, and in autumn 2019, she became a member of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" and the coordinator of the organization's volunteer service.
With her active participation, dozens of observations of peaceful assemblies were organized, monitoring of more than 100 court hearings on administrative cases against detained participants of peaceful protests was conducted, and trainings for new volunteers were arranged.
In 2020, Marfa Rabkova was involved in recruiting and training observers for the campaign "Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections".
With the onset of mass repressions during the election campaign, she actively participated in organizing assistance for repressed activists and their families, and was involved in documenting testimonies of torture victims among detained protest participants. And on September 17, she herself was detained.
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