Belarusian journalist Aliaksandr Lyubyanchuk sentenced to 3 years in prison

Paris, Octo­ber 27, 2022 – Belaru­sian author­i­ties must imme­di­ate­ly release Ali­ak­san­dr Lyubyanchuk, who was sen­tenced today to three years in prison, and stop retal­i­at­ing against jour­nal­ists for their work with banned Poland-based inde­pen­dent broad­cast­er Bel­sat TV, the Com­mit­tee to Pro­tect Jour­nal­ists said Thurs­day.

On Thurs­day, Octo­ber 27, a court in Min­sk, the cap­i­tal, con­vict­ed Lyubyanchuk of par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion and sen­tenced him to three years in prison, accord­ing to news reports and the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), a banned local advo­ca­cy and trade group.

Lyubyanchuk is a for­mer Bel­sat TV reporter, and BAJ asserts that his con­vic­tion is retal­i­a­tion for his for­mer work at the out­let. Author­i­ties labeled Bel­sat TV as “extrem­ist” in July 2021 and blocked its web­site and social media, accord­ing to reports. Lyubyanchuk­left Bel­sat TV in 2021 and no longer works in jour­nal­ism, BAJ deputy direc­tor Barys Haret­s­ki told CPJ via email. In 2020, Lyubyanchuk was detained sev­er­al times while “per­form­ing his pro­fes­sion­al duties,” Bel­sat TV report­ed.

“Today’s sen­tenc­ing of Ali­ak­san­dr Lyubyanchuk to three years in prison shows how Belaru­sian author­i­ties’ resent­ment against those who cov­ered the 2020 protests demand­ing the res­ig­na­tion of Pres­i­dent Alek­san­dr Lukashenko stretch­es to for­mer jour­nal­ists who were forced to give up their work for fear of reprisal,” said Gul­noza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Cen­tral Asia pro­gram coor­di­na­tor, in New York. “Belaru­sian author­i­ties must stop using extrem­ism leg­is­la­tion against for­mer Bel­sat TV jour­nal­ists and imme­di­ate­ly release Lyubyanchuk and all mem­bers of the press cur­rent­ly behind bars.”

Lyubyanchuk has been detained since May 26, 2022, as CPJ doc­u­ment­ed. His tri­al start­ed on Octo­ber 24 at the Min­sk City Court and last­ed three days, BAJ report­ed. CPJ was unable to imme­di­ate­ly deter­mine whether Lyubyanchuk intend­ed to appeal his sen­tenc­ing.

At least six oth­er cur­rent and for­mer Bel­sat TV jour­nal­ists are behind bars; four are await­ing tri­al.

• Ivan Muravy­ou, a for­mer cam­era oper­a­tor with Bel­sat TV, has been detained since August 2022 and charged with par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion, accord­ing to BAJ and Vias­na, a banned human rights group that con­tin­ues to oper­ate unof­fi­cial­ly. He faces up to six years in jail under Arti­cle 361–1, Part 3 of the Belaru­sian crim­i­nal code.

• Paval Mazhei­ka, a for­mer reporter with Bel­sat TV, had been detained since August 2022, accord­ing to media reports and BAJ. Vias­na report­ed that Mazhei­ka is fac­ing a crim­i­nal case “for exer­cis­ing his free­dom of expres­sion” with­out fur­ther details.

• Yauhen Merkis, a for­mer reporter with Bel­sat TV, has been detained since Sep­tem­ber 2022 and charged with facil­i­tat­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ty, accord­ing to Vias­na, BAJ, and human rights group Home­l­skaya Vias­na. If found guilty, he faces up to six years in jail under Arti­cle 361–4, Part 1 of the Belaru­sian crim­i­nal code.

• Andrzej Poc­zobut, a Bel­sat TV reporter, has been detained since March 2021 on charges of incit­ing hatred and call­ing for sanc­tions. Each charge car­ries a penal­ty of up to 12 years in jail. His tri­al is expect­ed to begin soon, accord­ing to media reports and Vias­na.

Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and Iry­na Slau­nika­va, two Bel­sat TV cor­re­spon­dents, were recent­ly sen­tenced to eight and five years in prison, as CPJ doc­u­ment­ed.

CPJ’s emails to the Belaru­sian Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee and Bel­sat TV did not receive any reply.