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Iryna Slaunikava, convicted to 5 years imprisonment for allegedly “creating an extremist formation”, reported vision changes that she attributed to bad lighting in the pre-trial detention center where she had been kept. The workload in the sewing shop of the Homel women’s penitentiary only aggravates the situation. Aliaksandr Loika, Iryna’s husband said that convicted women work as virtually free seamstresses in prison. They have almost no free time because of work.

Journalist Andrzej Poczobut was previously sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment.

Paris-Geneva, March 2, 2023 – Tomorrow, the Leninsky District Court in Minsk is expected to hand down its verdict in the case of Viasna leaders Ales Bialiatski, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich. On the eve of the verdict, the signatory organisations reiterate their calls to release the human rights defenders and drop all charges against them.

Law enforcers paid a visit to Aliaksandr Pazniak’s family home to specify his whereabouts. Pazniak used to work as a reporter at a regional media outlet in Brest. The reason for the increased interest was never disclosed.

RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik was detained on 25 June 2020 and is now serving a 15-year sentence. He has recently been summoned to Baranavichy District Court hearing in March for the consideration of the debt recovery case.

Dzianis’ family believes he was transferred back to Hrodna pre-trial detention facility, but they have no information as to why it could happen.

On February 24 in Brussels, representatives of various international organizations were photographed with posters bearing the names of journalists killed in the war in Ukraine.

As Tribuna.com reports, Tribuna journalist Alexander Ivulin has been free since February 17. He has already left Belarus.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today suspended the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) from membership following a vote of the Federation’s global Executive Committee.

Viasna HRC reported that the prosecutor of the Barysau District filed a petition to the court to recognize the information products posted on the ex-press.by website as extremist.

Yury Hladchuk, a special projects editor at Avtobiznes portal, was sentenced to 2.5 years of imprisonment, a source reported to Novy Chas. At the end of February, Minsk City Court will consider the appeal against the verdict.

An Intex-Press Publishing House staff member was detained for 72 hours.

A court hearing in the case of the Nexta bloggers Stsiapan Putsila and Yan Rudzik has been scheduled at Minsk Regional Court on 16 February. They will be tried in absentia under the so-called “special proceedings”. Raman Pratasevich is also expected to attend, but his legal status – defendant or witness – has not been disclosed.

According to Reform.by, the Ministry of Information added new items to the national list of extremist resources.