Tatsiana Pytsko extends the list of media representatives behind bars in Belarus. Now it counts 34 journalists

Tat­siana Pyt­sko and her hus­band face up to six years in prison. The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists has added Tat­siana Pytko to the list of media rep­re­sen­ta­tives behind bars.

At the moment there are 34 jour­nal­ists in cap­tiv­i­ty in Belarus.

On June 21, the Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty rec­og­nized Tat­siana Pyt­sko as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er.

Tat­siana Pyt­sko was arrest­ed on June 6 and charged with cre­at­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.

The rea­sons for the arrest became known after Tatsiana’s case was brought before the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee. The inves­ti­ga­tors were inter­est­ed in who filmed Viachaslau Laza­rau, who ini­ti­at­ed the record­ing, and who com­mis­sioned the video mate­r­i­al. The Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee found the cameraman’s archive, which was stored on his com­put­ers and cell phone. They also found video footage with Tat­siana Pyt­sko. Accord­ing to the inves­ti­ga­tion, she par­tic­i­pat­ed in the activ­i­ties of an extrem­ist for­ma­tion.

Her hus­band Viachaslau Laza­rau was charged under Arti­cle 361–4 of the Crim­i­nal Code (pro­mot­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ties) for asso­ci­a­tion with a non-state mass media declared extrem­ist in Belarus. He was detained on Feb­ru­ary 9 this year and has remained in cus­tody ever since.

Read more:

BAJ piece on dismissed state TV employees deemed “extremist”

“We stand in full solidarity with our brave colleagues!” The IFJ keeps torch of solidarity with journalist prisoners burning

Tatsiana Pytsko prosecuted for helping her husband, videographer Viachaslau Lazarau