Prosecutor asks for eight years of prison for Belarusian journalist Siarhei Satsuk

Judge of Min­sk City Court Svi­at­lana Ban­daren­ka ruled that one day was enough to hear the clos­ing argu­ments in the case of inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist Siarhei Sat­suk. The pros­e­cu­tor asked for eight years in prison for the jour­nal­ist.

«Gen­er­al­ly, Siarhei looks fine, although his heart prob­lems are still both­er­ing him. He needs med­ica­tion on a reg­u­lar basis. He tries to stay cheer­ful to sup­port us. How­ev­er, we do not hope for acquit­tal,» Siarhei’s fam­i­ly mem­ber said.

Siarhei Sat­suk, author of high-pro­file inves­ti­ga­tions and edi­tor-in-chief of the Ezhed­nevnik media out­let (ej.by), was detained on 8 Decem­ber 2021. He is charged with bribery (Arti­cle 430), incite­ment of hatred (Arti­cle 130), and offi­cial mis­con­duct (Arti­cle 426).

The human rights com­mu­ni­ty rec­og­nized Siarhei Sat­suk as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er. The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists strong­ly believes that the pros­e­cu­tion of the jour­nal­ist is polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed.