Prominent journalist rearrested following his release after three days in jail

Siarhiej Niaroŭny was ini­tial­ly arrest­ed in his home city of Kryčaŭ, Mahil­ioŭ region, on Octo­ber 17. A search was con­duct­ed at his home and his com­put­er was seized. The jour­nal­ist was charged with dis­trib­ut­ing extrem­ist con­tent under the Civ­il Offens­es Code’s Arti­cle 19.11.

After spend­ing three days in cus­tody, Mr. Niaroŭny was brought to the Kryčaŭ Dis­trict Court to answer the charge. A judge sent the case back to the police because of a “big num­ber of inac­cu­ra­cies” in the charge sheet and ordered his release.

As Mr. Niaroŭny was walk­ing out of the cour­t­house, he was rear­rest­ed on the same charge, said the BAJ.

Mr. Niaroŭny is a for­mer edi­tor in chief of Voĺny Horad, a pri­vate news­pa­per that cov­ers news in Kryčaŭ, as well as a reg­u­lar con­trib­u­tor to the Nar­o­d­na­ja Volia news­pa­per.