The Beaten Freelance Journalist Andrei Koziel Fined BYN 735 (EUR 305)

Being a demo­c­ra­t­ic candidate’s offi­cial rep­re­sen­ta­tive at the recent local elec­tions, the free­lance jour­nal­ist Andrei Koziel was stream­ing from the polling sta­tion in Min­sk to the social media. The local elec­tion com­mit­tee mem­bers ordered the police to stop film­ing the process of count­ing bal­lots.

Con­se­quent­ly, the jour­nal­ist was attacked by the police offi­cers on duty and tak­en away from the polling sta­tion by force. Report­ed­ly, the police opened the glass door to the polling sta­tion with the journalist’s head at that.

Final­ly, the beat­en jour­nal­ist was found guilty of ‘dis­obe­di­ence to the police’ and fined 30 base amounts.