Another journalist linked to sports news site arrested over protests

Offi­cers of the inte­ri­or ministry’s orga­nized crime and cor­rup­tion depart­ment, which has played a cen­tral role in the government’s crack­down on polit­i­cal oppo­nents, searched Mr. Masloŭski’s apart­ment before arrest­ing him.

A pro-gov­ern­ment Telegram chan­nel lat­er pub­lished a video of an osten­si­bly repen­tant Mr. Masloŭs­ki speak­ing about the site’s alleged­ly pro-oppo­si­tion edi­to­r­i­al pol­i­cy fol­low­ing the dis­put­ed August 2020 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion and regret­ting his par­tic­i­pa­tion in post-elec­tion protests.

Mr. Masloŭs­ki, a 37-year-old father-of-two, joined the by.tribuna.com team in 2010 and quit the job in July 2021.

Mak­sim Bier­azin­s­ki, head of the site, recalled that by.tribuna.com had been blocked and des­ig­nat­ed as extrem­ist by Belarus’ author­i­ties.

“But we con­tin­ue work­ing, con­tin­ue inform­ing peo­ple about what is real­ly hap­pen­ing in the sphere of sports,” he told Bela­PAN, speak­ing from a for­eign coun­try. “Per­haps some­one may not like that. I see that as pow­er­less­ness.”

He described Mr. Masloŭs­ki as a “kind, decent and calm” per­son and expressed hope that he would be reunit­ed with his fam­i­ly soon.

Ali­ak­san­dr Ivulin, a by.tribuna.com jour­nal­ist, was arrest­ed at his Min­sk home on June 3 and sen­tenced to 30 days in jail the fol­low­ing day on a charge of hold­ing an unau­tho­rized protest.

He was not released on com­ple­tion of his jail sen­tence. Instead, he was put in cus­tody and charged under Part One the Crim­i­nal Code’s Arti­cle 342, which penal­izes “orga­niz­ing or tak­ing an active part in group actions gross­ly dis­turb­ing pub­lic order.”

Mr. Ivulin is cur­rent­ly held in Pre-Tri­al Deten­tion Cen­ter No. 1 on Val­adarska­ha Street in Min­sk.

On Sep­tem­ber 1, police searched the Min­sk apart­ment of Mr. Bier­azin­s­ki, who had left Belarus months before.