Babruisk journalist Dzianis Nosau released after administrative detention

BAJ has learned that Dzia­n­is Nosau, a jour­nal­ist with the region­al pub­li­ca­tion Vech­erniy Bobruisk, has been released after 15 days of admin­is­tra­tive deten­tion.

Dzia­n­is Nosau. Pho­to: Social media

Dzia­n­is Nosau, a jour­nal­ist with the inde­pen­dent pub­li­ca­tion Vech­erniy Bobruisk, was arrest­ed on April 8. A video of him being forced to con­fess to “wrong­do­ings” appeared on a pro-gov­ern­ment Telegram chan­nel. In it, the jour­nal­ist said that he had been for­ward­ing “extrem­ist mate­ri­als” to his con­tacts on Telegram since 2020 and that after the begin­ning of a full-scale war in Ukraine, he fol­lowed “extrem­ist chan­nels” to keep abreast of events. Dzia­n­is also said that he would be “put in a tem­po­rary deten­tion cen­ter” for his actions.

On April 15, it was report­ed that the Babruisk Dis­trict and City Court had sen­tenced him to 15 days of admin­is­tra­tive deten­tion, find­ing him guilty of “dis­trib­ut­ing extrem­ist mate­ri­als.” On April 23, it was announced that the jour­nal­ist had been released after com­plet­ing his sen­tence.

Dzia­n­is Nosau was also arrest­ed and admin­is­tra­tive­ly detained sev­er­al times in 2020 and 2022.