Independent journalists denied accreditation to trial of journalist Katsiaryna Barysevich and Doctor Artsiom Sarokin

Jour­nal­ists of TUT.BY (Bary­se­vich’s employ­er), Kom­so­mol­skaya Prav­da, Onlin­er, Bela­PAN, Novy Chas, and Office Life out­lets were not giv­en accred­i­ta­tion to attend the tri­al.

- Your appli­ca­tion for accred­i­ta­tion has been reject­ed, — the reporters were told by assis­tant to the chair­man of Mask­ous­ki dis­trict court Maria Hryshanko­va.

She claimed the rea­son was «lim­it­ed seats in the court­room, and mea­sures to pre­vent the spread of coro­n­avirus infec­tion.» Accord­ing to her, «a suf­fi­cient num­ber of media to ensure trans­paren­cy of the hear­ing have been accred­it­ted.» Maria Hryshanko­va refused to name the media out­lets that had been grant­ed accred­i­ta­tion.

This is not the first time that jour­nal­ists of inde­pen­dent media are denied access to open court hear­ings.