Minsk: 15-day jail terms for Belsat TV support staff

They were tried under Art. 24.3 of the Code of Admin­is­tra­tive Offences (‘dis­obe­di­ence to a law­ful order or require­ment of an offi­cial). Ear­li­er, state-run TV report­ed that they were sus­pect­ed of vio­lat­ing the law on mass media.

Today judge Alyak­san­dr Petrash has sen­tenced Mikhail Kashkan, Mak­sim Yarashen­ka, Ivan Kashkan, Ryhor Pya­tro­vich, Pavel Pat­a­pau, Alyak­san­dr Kulpo to 15 days of arrest each.

Last Fri­day, uni­formed ser­vices broke into a Min­sk-based stu­dio which is reg­u­lar­ly used for film­ing and mak­ing Bel­sat TV talk show Each of Us (Kozh­ny Z Nas). Sup­port staff (four cam­era­men, a sound engi­neer, a stu­dio admin­is­tra­tor) were detained; they were tak­en to the noto­ri­ous deten­tion cen­tre on Akrestsin Street.

When the unex­pect­ed vis­i­tors came, there was no film­ing in progress; the stu­dio was just being pre­pared for record­ing anoth­er episode of the talk show. Hleb Labadzen­ka, the host of Each of Us, is at lib­er­ty.