Belsat journos covering picket in Zhodzina taken to police station

Dozens of peo­ple showed up at Svy­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya’s pre-elec­tion pick­et in Zhodz­i­na; as every cit­i­zen has the right to sign for sev­er­al pres­i­den­tial con­tenders, many sup­port­ed Vik­tar Babary­ka and Valery Tsap­kala whose nom­i­na­tion groups were also present.

A num­ber of inter­vie­wees told jour­nal­ists they were look­ing for­ward to ‘mean­ing­ful change’ in the coun­try.

How­ev­er, when Bel­sat jour­nal­ist Hali­na Abakunchyk and cam­era­man Syarhei Kavaliou were leav­ing the town, the traf­fic police stopped their car. Accord­ing to our con­trib­u­tors, secu­ri­ty forces had been keep­ing watch on them dur­ing and after the pick­et.

The crew was tak­en to Zhodz­i­na dis­trict police depart­ment. How­ev­er, the police offi­cers refused to pro­vide any infor­ma­tion about the deten­tion of our col­leagues or give any rea­son for that.

(UPD) Abakunchyk and Kavaliou had to spend three hours in the police sta­tion before the release; the police gave their equip­ment and tele­phones back to them. A pro­to­col was drawn upon the duo under Art. 22.9 of the Code of Admin­is­tra­tive Offences (ille­gal pro­duc­tion and dis­tribu­sion of media prod­ucts).

Галіна Абакунчык і Сяргей Кавалёў сёння здымалі пікеты па збору подпісаў кандыдатаў у прэзідэнты.

Адзначым, учора была затрыманая здымачная група «Белсату» ў Бабруйску. На Аляксандра Баразенку і Алену Дубовік склалі пратаколы за парушэнне артыкула 22.9 КаАП (праца на замежнае СМІ без акрэдытацыі), а таксама забралі ў іх мабільныя тэлефоны і тэлекамеру. Пасля гэтага журналістаў адпусцілі з РАУСа.