Nina Bahinskaya protests the results of the Belarusian presidential election, Minsk, 26 October 2020. Photo: AP Photo / Scanpix / LETA

In a rare display of leniency, a court in the Belarusian capital Minsk has acquitted 78-year-old veteran activist Nina Bahinskaya and dismissed the case against her, independent TV channel Belsat reported on Friday.

Bahinskaya had been charged with “repeated violation of the procedure for organising or holding mass events”. The case arose earlier this month after she was seen wearing a white-red-white protest badge on the streets of Minsk in 2024, according to Belarusian human rights group Viasna.

At the end of the two-hour hearing, which was held behind closed doors, the judge acquitted Bahinskaya and dropped all charges, but ruled that she be placed under “preventive supervision”.

Bahinskaya was fined three separate times in 2024 for a total of 7,200 Belarusian rubles (€1,942), for unauthorised picketing after “demonstrating white-red-white symbols”, according to Viasna. She was also taken for psychiatric evaluation several times while the police investigated her case.

Representatives from diplomatic missions in Belarus attended court on Friday to express solidarity with Bahinskaya, the German Embassy reported. They were not allowed into the courtroom, however.

In 2021, Belarus criminalised repeatedly organising or holding mass events as a response to the widespread protests that erupted before and after the 2020 Belarusian presidential elections which saw Lukashenko re-elected for his sixth consecutive term. Six people have been convicted under the charge to date, according to Viasna.

Bahinskaya, a geologist by profession, has been participating in protests across Belarus since 1988, and has supported various initiatives to protect human rights and preserve historical memory.