Black Ukrainian Woman Faces 5 Years in Prison After Baring Breasts During Protest

Angelina Diash is a black woman, a native-born Ukrainian patriot. She loves her country but hates the direction in which it’s headed. Corruption is rampant. The leadership talks a good game about democracy, but at times, she says, it feels like a dictatorship. Though with a new, pro-Western government in office, Diash felt she at least had freedom of expression.

Her harsh reality check came last week when she was arrested after baring her breasts in protest during a ceremony where Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko signed documents of cooperation between their countries. Human rights abuses are rampant in Belarus, which former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once called “the last dictatorship” of Central Europe. Diash believed that Poroshenko didn’t need to be seen shaking hands with someone most of the world thinks is a tyrant.

Diash made her way into the ceremony last Friday afternoon, bared her breasts with “long live Belarus” written on them and began shouting the phrase. The refrain is commonly used by the Belarusian opposition against Lukashenko. Two large men dressed in black suits quickly whisked her out of the packed ceremony as journalists snapped photos, shot video and looked on.

Lukashenko and Poroshenko grinned calmly. Watch the video of Diash’s protest for yourself: