Белсат

Police searched the home of Siarhei Skulavet­s’s 85-year-old grand­moth­er. Skulavets is a for­mer jour­nal­ist at Bel­sat TV. In Sep­tem­ber, the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee had opened a crim­i­nal case against him.

Pol­ish edi­tion Press.pl found out that jour­nal­ists of the Bel­sat TV chan­nel, work­ing in Ukraine and Rus­sia, com­plain about irreg­u­lar pay­ment of salaries. Prob­lems with pay­ments are also report­ed in the head­quar­ters in War­saw, includ­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives of pro­duc­tion and instal­la­tion teams.

The largest Belaru­sian media orga­ni­za­tions, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and the Press Club Belarus have urged the Pol­ish author­i­ties to pre­serve the Belaru­sian tele­vi­sion chan­nel Bel­sat.

Dur­ing the NATO Pub­lic Forum, Belaru­sian demo­c­ra­t­ic leader Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya met with Pol­ish For­eign Min­is­ter Radosław Siko­rs­ki. Among oth­er things, they dis­cussed the sit­u­a­tion with the Bel­sat TV chan­nel.

On June 28, Supreme Court Judge Siarhei Hurau con­sid­ered the appeal of Anas­ta­sia Mat­si­ash. The appeal was denied and the orig­i­nal ver­dict of the court of first instance was upheld.

The reform of TVP World, which cur­ren­ly includes the Bel­sat TV chan­nel, has been announced. Experts have indi­cat­ed that the changes will result in the loss of much of the auton­o­my cur­rent­ly enjoyed by Bel­sat TV and a reduc­tion in its scope. The channel’s act­ing direc­tor, Ali­ak­sei Dzikav­it­s­ki, declined to com­ment.