Journalists detained in Minsk and Belarus regions on 12 and 13 September

Pro­tes­tors detained in Min­sk on Sep­tem­ber 13

Sep­tem­ber 12

Min­sk

Bel­sat jour­nal­ists Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and Mak­sim Kali­tous­ki were detained. They were stream­ing from protests.  The jour­nal­ists were tak­en to the Kas­trych­nit­s­ki police depart­ment. The police took away their equip­ment and threat­ened to hand­cuff them.

Kat­siary­na told her fam­i­ly they had been charged under Art. 22.9 ( «vio­la­tion of the leg­is­la­tion on mass media») and Art. 23.4 (dis­obe­di­ence to police) of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code. The police­man in charge said that they would be tried only on Tues­day (Sep­tem­ber 15). The jour­nal­ists will stay in Akrestsi­na deten­tion cen­ter until then.

In the after­noon rep­re­sen­ta­tive of Ada­mi Media Prize Vol­ha Bart­lau was detained down town Min­sk. The police drew up a report under arti­cle  23.34 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code. Vol­ha was tak­en to hos­pi­tal by an ambu­lance with a hyper­ten­sive cri­sis.

Dur­ing the Wom­en’s March, a Rus­sia Today cam­era­man tried to grab the phone of Ales Pilet­s­ki, jour­nal­ist of RFE/RL. Ales tells this sto­ry:  

«After the last arrests, when the pro­test­ers left, it was basi­cal­ly only jour­nal­ists who remained on the street. Among them, there was that strange cam­era­man with a strange reporter. They had a strong smell of alco­hol, every­body noticed that. They began to argue with oth­er jour­nal­ists, the few pro­test­ers that remained on the street joined the argu­ment.

We approached them and asked them  what pub­li­ca­tion they rep­re­sent­ed. They respond­ed with film­ing us in the face. I took out my phone and tried to film them too. The man grabbed my phone aggres­sive­ly, but I did not let him take it away. It all hap­pened very quick­ly. We don’t know who they are and if they are jour­nal­ists.»

Brest

The police came to the house of Brest jour­nal­ists Milana Khary­ton­a­va and Ales Liauchuk, but failed to get inside.

Jour­nal­ist Stas Kor­shu­nau received a call from the police who warned him that he should not par­tic­i­pate in mass events.

A local police­man also vis­it­ed head of BAJ Brest branch Mak­sim Khli­a­bets.

Sep­tem­ber 13

Min­sk

Bel­sat Art­siom Lia­va was detained. He was tak­en to Kas­trych­nit­s­ki police depart­ment. A few hours lat­er he was released. The police did not draw up the report, but took his car, lap­top and phone for expert exam­i­na­tion.

In Min­sk, dev.by chief edi­tor Natal­lia Pravalin­skayawas detained  Lat­er she was released with­out police report.

Nasha Niva jour­nal­ist Zmitser Pankavets was detained at Navav­ilen­skaya street, and was released after ID check­up.

At Pushkin­skaya, a riot police­man pushed TASS pho­to­jour­nal­ist Valeriy Shar­i­fulinfrom the para­pet of the stairs. His equip­ment might be dam­aged. 

In Min­sk the police vio­lent­ly detained jour­nal­ist Tat­siana Harha­lyk. She was tak­en to Kas­trych­nit­s­ki police depart­ment. The police drew up the report under Art. 23.34 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code and released her.

Late in the evening in Cafe 1067 three jour­nal­ists were detained: Ali­ak­san­dr Vasiukovich, Uladz Hry­dzin. They were detained togeth­er with Siarhei Kan­drat­sen­ka, press sec­re­tary of Batskaushchy­na NGO.

All jour­nal­ists wore PRESS badges. The police offi­cers entered the cafe with the inten­tion to arrest the jour­nal­ists.

The jour­nal­ists were left in the deten­tion cen­ter in Akrestsin Street before the tri­al. They are pros­e­cut­ed under the pro­to­cols under Art. 23.34 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code (not yet con­firmed).

Mahil­iou

Ales Sabaleus­ki was detained. Sabaleus­ki works Mahil­iou region web­site.

Last week he was released from the deten­tion cen­ter, where he served 8 days of admin­is­tra­tive arrest. The jour­nal­ist was on hunger strike for 8 days to protest against his arrest.