News

Judge of the Oktyabrsky district court in Mogilev Olga Kravchenko found Brest bloggers Sergei Petrukhin and Alexander Kabanov guilty of organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, insulting a government official. Petrukhin was also found guilty of insulting a judge. Both were sentenced to three years in a general regime colony. The bloggers were not present during the hearings: they were removed from the courtroom at the beginning of the trial. The judge rejected all petitions for the participation of the accused in the process.

Euronews TV channel will stop broadcasting in Belarus, according to the website of the Ministry of Information. It will be replaced with a Russian channel Pobeda.

Hrodna journalist Dzianis Ivashyn has been kept behind bars since March 12, 2021. He was grabbed by police on the street near his block when walking to a pharmacy to pick up medicines.

On Tuesday, security forces raided the flat of Current Time reporter Raman Vasyukoich. The search warramt was issued by the prosecutor’s office as part of the investigation into a case under Art. 130 (‘Incitement to racial, national, religious or social hatred’) of the Criminal Code.

The exhibition “A machine is breathing, but I can’t”, dedicated to Belarusian healthcare workers, has been cancelled. The project team announced this after both organizers of the exhibition were arrested and taken to a temporary detention centre on Okrestin Street in Minsk.

TUT.BY received a draft law on potential amendments to the laws on the media. It is proposed to block internet resources for information aimed “at promoting extremist activity” and materials that may “lead to the emergence of threats to national security.” 

Deutsche Welle correspondent Nicholas Connolly was detained during the coverage of the protest action on Bangalore Square in Minsk on March 27. He presented a German passport, his official accreditation and the inscription “Press” on his vest, the media reports, but was still detained.

The Investigative Committee of Belarus believes that blogger Anton Motolko is involved in a number of crimes, the press service of the agency reports.