Voĺha Karač

Voĺha Karač
Ольга Евгеньевна Карач Вольга Яўгенаўна Карач
Born	(1979-01-05) 5 January 1979 (age 45) Vitebsk, Byelorussian SSR
Alma mater	Vitebsk State University
Occupation(s)	Politician, writer, social activist
Political party	United Civic Party (2008-2012)

Olga Evgenievna Karach (Ольга Евгеньевна Карач, Belarusian: Вольга Яўгенаўна Карач; born 5 January 1979) is a Belarusian journalist, public figure, and politician. She is a member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists. She is part owner of Vitebsk Courier Publishing House CJSC. She founded the newspaper The Vitebsk Courier, registered in Russia. From March 2008 to March 2012, she was chair of the Vitebsk regional organization of the United Civil Party (UCP). She actively opposes Belarusian authorities, for which she is persecuted.^[1][2]

Early life

Karach was born on 5 January 1979 to a working-class family in Vitebsk. She graduated from secondary school No. 6 with a gold medal in 1996. She then graduated from Masherov Vitebsk State University, in 2002 with honours. She is a teacher of Russian and Belarusian language and literature. She worked as a teacher in a secondary school in Vitebsk for four years. She earned a second higher legal education at the Moscow Regional Institute of Management and Law. She earned a master's degree in the public policy program at European Humanities University in Vilnius in 2012. She was the founder of the newspapers The Vitebsk Courier and Our House. Due to their coverage of Belarusian realities, editions are confiscated by Belarusian authorities, and the Courier's website, after a special presidential decree, became the first disabled website in the list of independent online publications.^[3][4]

In 1996, while at the university, she founded the youth public association (initiative) The Seventh Facet. She received a personal scholarship named fir A. S. Pushkin, which was revoked over her political activity such as participation in the unregistered ZUBR movement.^{[citation needed]}

Career

On November 21, 2002, Karach left the position of ZUBR coordinator for Vitebsk and the Vitebsk region and in December formed the civil campaign “Our Home” (Vitebsk), which brought her national attention. At that time she was a member of the Belarusian Association of Young Politicians.

While working as a teacher, she was laid off after she was nominated as a candidate for parliament. In March 2002, Svobodnye Novosti+ recognized Karach as the "most beautiful politician in Belarus".^{[citation needed]}

In March 2003, she was elected deputy of the Vitebsk City Council of Deputies. In 2009, she implemented a project that resulted in the book of memoirs Children of War (memories of former prisoners of fascist concentration camps and children forcibly taken to work in Germany). She was the initiator and organizer of various actions, including: the “Beware of the Police!” campaign, the open-ended campaign “Our House” - hold deputies to account!”, the republican campaign for the improvement of cemeteries “ Flowers instead of weeds", the festival of good mood "Endorphin", and the festival "Women's Fishing 2010", participation in the anti-nuclear protest in Germany.

She was the author of the “Chinovniki.info” initiative, a portal that monitors and conducts public examination of the activities of officials.

In 2021, the KGB included Karach in its "list of persons associated with terrorist activities"^[5] and, in 2022, its YouTube and Telegram channels were designated as extremist materials.^[6] Earlier in 2021, the YouTube and Telegram channels of Our House were designated as extremist materials.^[7] In May 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs included the organization itself on the list of extremist groups.^[8]

In the summer of 2024, the Belarusian authorities sentenced Olga Karach in absentia to 12 years in prison and a fine.^[9]

Personal life

Since 2011, Karach has lived in Lithuania. In August 2023, it became known that Lithuania refused to grant her political asylum. She is married and has two children. She suffers from ankylosing spondylitis, requiring special treatment. In 2007, she was deprived of the ability to walk for three months and sometimes forced to use crutches. In 2015, joint hip prostheses were installed.^[10]

References

1. "Ольга Карач возглавила Витебскую областную организацию ОГП" (in Russian).^{[dead link‍]}
2. "Витебские демократы избрали Ольгу Карач" (in Russian). 2014-03-17.
3. "В Беларуси началось закрытие независимых интернет-изданий". Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (in Russian).
4. "Витебский Курьер: Жертва цензуры или панских разборок?" (in Russian).
5. "КГБ внес Ольгу Карач в список причастных к терроризму". Reform.by [be] (in Russian).
6. "Каналы в YouTube и Telegram Ольги Карач признаны экстремистскими". Reform.by [be] (in Russian).
7. "Каналы Карач и Макара признали в Беларуси экстремистскими". Reform.by [be] (in Russian).
8. "«Наш дом» признан экстремистским формированием". Reform.by [be] (in Russian).
9. "Правозащитницу Ольгу Карач в Беларуси заочно приговорили к 12 годам тюрьмы". Lithuanian National Radio and Television (in Russian). July 9, 2024.
10. "Ольга Карач: Я самая настоящая железная леди". Belarusian Partisan (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2020-10-28.