Nine journalists targeted by criminal investigation

Bel­sat jour­nal­ists Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and, pre­sum­ably, Daria Chultso­va, are charged under Arti­cle 342 part 1 of the Crim­i­nal Code. As a mea­sure of restraint, Andreye­va has been arrest­ed for 2 months (i.e. until 20 Jan­u­ary 2021). Kat­siary­na did not admit guilt and remains silent.  The police searched the apart­ment of her rel­a­tives, where she is reg­is­tered, but did not find or seize any­thing.  The police report says, «no tools or means of the crime, objects or doc­u­ments relat­ed to the crim­i­nal case, have been found.»

Jour­nal­ists Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and Daria Chultso­va were detained on Novem­ber 15 in Min­sk. They were tried for alleged vio­la­tion of Arti­cle 23.34 and 23.4 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code ( «par­tic­i­pa­tion in mass protests» and «dis­obey­ing a police offi­cer»). Each was sen­tenced to 7 days in jail by judge Vol­ha Niaborskaya.

How­ev­er, the police pressed crim­i­nal charges against Andreye­va. Pre­sum­ably, charges against Daria Chultso­va has also been pressed. Her lawyer signed a non-dis­clo­sure notice and can­not even dis­close whether charges against Daria have been pressed and under what arti­cle of the crim­i­nal code. Both jour­nal­ists are in cus­tody

Four oth­er jour­nal­ists in the case were detained while cov­er­ing street protests on Novem­ber 1. First they were giv­en admin­is­tra­tive sen­tences (short jail terms and fines), and lat­er became sus­pects in the same crim­i­nal case.

The apart­ment of Novy Chas pho­tog­ra­ph­er Dzmit­ry Dzmit­ryeu was searched on Novem­ber 13 as part of the crim­i­nal case.  Before that, Dzmit­ry served 10 days in jail for vio­la­tion of Art. 23.34 and 23.4 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code. Dzmit­ry was detained on 1 Novem­ber, while cov­er­ing street protests, and severe­ly beat­en.

Jour­nal­ist and cam­era­man Dzmit­ry Soltan (Buyanau) is also a sus­pect in the case. On Novem­ber 1, he was detained and beat­en, and his cam­era and phone were seized.  He served 10 days in jail for vio­la­tion of Art. 23.34 and 23.4 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code.

Bel­sat reporters Dzmit­ry Krauchuk and Art­siom Bahaslaus­ki were detained the same very day. They received fines for vio­la­tion of Art. 23.34 of the Admin­is­tra­tive Code. Now they are also sus­pects in the same crim­i­nal case.

Thus, here’s the list of jour­nal­ists sus­pect­ed of vio­lat­ing Arti­cle 342 of the Crim­i­nal Code — «Orga­niz­ing and prepar­ing activ­i­ties that gross­ly breach pub­lic order»:

Kat­siary­na Andreye­va
 Daria Chultso­va
 Dzmit­ry Dzmit­ryeu
 Dzmit­ry Soltan (Buyanau)
 Dzmit­ry Krauchuk
 Art­siom Bahaslaus­ki.

TUT.BY jour­nal­ist Kat­siary­na Bary­se­vich will remain in KGB jail until offi­cial charges are pressed — at least until 29 Novem­ber. Kat­siary­na is sus­pect­ed under Arti­cle 178 part 3 of the Crim­i­nal Code — dis­clo­sure of med­ical secret, which led to seri­ous con­se­quences. The crim­i­nal case was insti­gat­ed by the Pros­e­cu­tor Gen­er­al’s Office.

Yahor Martsi­novich, chief edi­tor of Nasha Niva, is sus­pect­ed of defama­tion (Arti­cle 188 of the Crim­i­nal Code). Nasha Niva pub­lished an arti­cle where DJ Ulad Sakolous­ki claimed that in jail he had been beat­en by a per­son who looked like deputy min­is­ter of inter­nal affairs Bar­suk­ou. Bar­suk­ou is rec­og­nized as a vic­tim in the case.

DJ Sakalous­ki has fled to Lithua­nia. He says he left the coun­try upon receiv­ing threats after the inter­view.

Jour­nal­ist Siarhei Sat­suk is sus­pect­ed of bribery. The jour­nal­ist signed an oblig­a­tion to appear (not even trav­el restric­tions) and was released. He also had to sign a non-dis­clo­sure state­ment. The charges against Sat­suk have nev­er been pressed.