Belarus opens new criminal case against journalist Katsiaryna Andreyeva

The Bel­sat jour­nal­ist announced this on her Face­book page on Novem­ber 4, 2026. Andreyeva’s par­ents have been sum­moned to the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee.

Kat­siary­na Andreye­va at an event in Vil­nius. Pho­to: BAJ

“While I was sign­ing peti­tions, some­thing was being signed in my beloved Moth­er­land too. Mom and Dad are being sum­moned to the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee tomor­row: a new crim­i­nal case against me,” Andreye­va wrote.

Bel­sat jour­nal­ists Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and Darya Chultso­va were detained on Novem­ber 15, 2020 while cov­er­ing a pub­lic memo­r­i­al for the killed pro­test­er Raman Ban­daren­ka in a live broad­cast.

On Feb­ru­ary 18, 2021, Judge Natal­lia Buhuk of the Frun­zen­s­ki Dis­trict Court of Min­sk found the jour­nal­ists guilty and sen­tenced each of them to 2 years in prison.

In July 2022, a sec­ond tri­al took place, at which Andreye­va was hand­ed a hor­rif­ic sen­tence: 8 years in a cor­rec­tion­al facil­i­ty. The deci­sion was made by Judge Aleh Kharosh­ka of the Homel Region­al Court. The pro­ceed­ings were held behind closed doors. The sub­stance of the charges remains unknown to this day.

On March 19, 2026, fol­low­ing a vis­it to Min­sk by U.S. pres­i­den­tial spe­cial envoy John Coale, Andreye­va, along with oth­er polit­i­cal pris­on­ers, was released and brought to Lithua­nia.

In fall 2026, the jour­nal­ist returned to the chan­nel where she began her career. She joined the new sea­son of Belsat’s evening pro­gram Stu­dio Bel­sat as one of its hosts.