“They hold up well and don’t lose hope.” Latest news from imprisoned journalists

Katsiaryna Andreyeva

The Supreme Court upheld the sen­tence of Bel­sat jour­nal­ist Kat­siary­na Andreye­va – eight years and three months in prison, despite the alter­ation of the charge word­ing.

Instead of “dis­clos­ing state secrets to a for­eign orga­ni­za­tion or a for­eign state,” the jour­nal­is­tic activ­i­ty of Kat­siary­na Andreye­va has been reword­ed as “espi­onage”.

The appeal was con­sid­ered in cam­era. Accord­ing to rel­a­tives, let­ters and care pack­ages are reach­ing Kat­siary­na.

Her mood is sta­ble: she holds up well and does not lose hope.

Soon she is expect­ed to be trans­ferred to the Homel cor­rec­tion­al facil­i­ty.

Kat­siary­na Andreye­va was con­vict­ed under Art. 342 (orga­ni­za­tion of actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order) and Art. 356 of the Crim­i­nal Code (espi­onage).

Andrei Kuznechyk

Jour­nal­ist Andrei Kuznechyk was sen­tenced to six years of impris­on­ment under Arti­cle 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code (estab­lish­ment of or par­tic­i­pa­tion in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion). He was sent to the Mahil­iou cor­rec­tion­al facil­i­ty to serve his sen­tence. At the end of the sum­mer, his rel­a­tives vis­it­ed the jour­nal­ist.

Accord­ing to them, Andrei hoped to be at least a lit­tle more com­fort­able in the facil­i­ty, because he missed being in the fresh air. But the weath­er was not com­fort­able for being out­side. He start­ed cough­ing: either he caught a cold, or was aller­gic to the new city.

At the same time, the jour­nal­ist is con­cerned about his wife and chil­dren, reminds to take the daugh­ter out so his wife could rest and orga­niz­ing a male com­pa­ny for his son Matsvei while the father is away. Even under such con­di­tions, Andrei finds time and inspi­ra­tion to write new poems and send his chil­dren at least a piece of his love.

Iryna Slaunikava

Accord­ing to rel­a­tives, there is no news from Bel­sat jour­nal­ist Iry­na Slau­nika­va. She is kept in Homel pre-tri­al deten­tion cen­ter and awaits the appeal. The fam­i­ly does not hope that the appeal will bring any change.

The jour­nal­ist is healthy and high-spir­it­ed. Care pack­ages reach her, unlike let­ters – she only receives cor­re­spon­dence from fam­i­ly. After the ver­dict, the rel­a­tives went on a few vis­its with Iry­na.

Iry­na Slau­nika­va was accused of orga­niz­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in actions that gross­ly vio­late pub­lic order (Art. 342 of the Crim­i­nal Code) and of estab­lish­ing or par­tic­i­pat­ing in an extrem­ist for­ma­tion (Art. 361–1 of the Crim­i­nal Code). The jour­nal­ist was sen­tenced to five years of impris­on­ment.

Aliaksandr Lubianchuk

Ali­ak­san­dr was detained on 26 May this year.

The journalist’s fam­i­ly told BAJ that he is doing well and feels cheer­ful. Ali­ak­san­dr is always hap­py to receive let­ters, post­cards, telegrams, mon­ey trans­fers – any way one can say hel­lo.

He reads a lot of Belaru­sian and for­eign lit­er­a­ture. The pris­on­er miss­es the Belaru­sian nature, to which he has become so attached, liv­ing in the coun­try­side in the last years.

Siarhei Hardziyevich

Siarhei Hardziye­vich, a jour­nal­ist of the Hantsavichy media out­let Per­shy rehi­jon, is sched­uled to be released on 27 Octo­ber 2022. He was detained on 22 Decem­ber 2020 and charged under three arti­cles of the Crim­i­nal Code: insult­ing a pub­lic offi­cer (Art. 369), insult­ing the pres­i­dent (Art. 368), and defama­tion (Art. 188). His term of one year and six months of impris­on­ment is com­ing to an end.

Accord­ing to his col­leagues, he does not receive let­ters, because he was forced to sign a refusal to receive cor­re­spon­dence. How­ev­er, he com­mu­ni­cates with his wife almost every week on Viber. He has not seen his fam­i­ly for the entire time he has been behind bars.

His fel­low jour­nal­ists are think­ing about how to facil­i­tate Siarhei’s inte­gra­tion upon release. 

Valeryia Kastsiuhova

Jour­nal­ist and polit­i­cal ana­lyst Valeryia Kast­si­uho­va has been behind bars for over a year. Accord­ing to her rel­a­tives, she receives let­ters, but in lim­it­ed num­bers. Care pack­ages are deliv­ered.

She is high-spir­it­ed as usu­al.

In jail, Valeryia reads a lot, ana­lyzes state pro­pa­gan­da, and holds lec­tures and class­es right in her cell.

Valeryia Kast­si­uho­va was detained on 30 June 2021 and charged with encour­ag­ing actions aimed at harm­ing the nation­al secu­ri­ty of the Repub­lic of Belarus (Art. 361) and con­spir­a­cy to seize pow­er by uncon­sti­tu­tion­al means (Art. 357 of the Crim­i­nal Code).

Kanstantsin Zalatykh 

Kanstantsin Zalatykh, direc­tor of the Belorusy i rynok news­pa­per, was detained on 18 May 2022 after a search in the edi­to­r­i­al office.

He was charged with incite­ment of social enmi­ty com­bined with vio­lence or com­mit­ted by an offi­cial (Art 130.3 of the Crim­i­nal Code). He faces three to ten years of impris­on­ment.

He is kept in a deten­tion cen­ter. Accord­ing to his fam­i­ly, he receives let­ters from them only, while his let­ters reach both fam­i­ly and friends. He holds up well, based on what he writes and the infor­ma­tion from the lawyer.

Andrei Pachobut

Andrei Pachobut, a jour­nal­ist from Hrod­na, has been under inves­ti­ga­tion for almost a year and a half now. He is accused of encour­ag­ing actions aimed at harm­ing the nation­al secu­ri­ty of the Repub­lic of Belarus (Art. 361) and incit­ing social enmi­ty (Art. 130 of the Crim­i­nal Code).

Яму прад’яўляюць абвінавачанні па крымінальных артыкулах 361 — «Заклікі да дзеянняў, скіраваных на прычыненне шкоды нацыянальнай бяспецы Рэспублікі Беларусь» і артыкуле 130 — «Распальванне варожасці».

His fam­i­ly did not have any sig­nif­i­cant news to share. Andrei did not man­age to fin­ish read­ing his 86-vol­ume case file in a month. After the ver­dict, rel­a­tives hope for a vis­it. His cor­re­spon­dence is not restrict­ed, and he stays strong, how­ev­er, does not hope for mir­a­cles.

Liudmila Chekina and Maryna Zolatava

Two TUT.BY rep­re­sen­ta­tives remain behind bars: CEO Liud­mi­la Chek­ina and edi­tor-in-chief Mary­na Zolata­va. They are strong women and sup­port both their cell­mates and those on the out­side, their friends are con­vinced.

Accord­ing to their col­leagues, Mary­na and Liud­mi­la are high-spir­it­ed and ready to hold out until the end. Behind bars, they are busy with exer­cise and self-edu­ca­tion. Cor­re­spon­dence works bet­ter with fam­i­ly mem­bers. But late­ly, friends have also start­ed receiv­ing replies.

Zolata­va and Chek­ina were detained on 18 May 2021. They are charged under Arti­cle 243 of the Crim­i­nal Code (tax eva­sion).

Dzianis Ivashyn

Judge Valer Ramanous­ki sen­tenced Dzia­n­is Ivashyn, a free­lance jour­nal­ist who worked for the Hrod­na-based news­pa­per Novy chas, to 13 years and one month in prison. He was accused of inter­fer­ence in the activ­i­ties of an inter­nal affairs offi­cer (Art. 365) and trea­son (Art. 356). After the ver­dict, the jour­nal­ist met with his rel­a­tives.

Accord­ing to the fam­i­ly, Dzia­n­is is high-spir­it­ed, self-con­fi­dent, and opti­mistic.

The ver­dict was hard­ly a top­ic at the meet­ing, as he imme­di­ate­ly said it did not mat­ter. Dzia­n­is thinks that soon he and all oth­er polit­i­cal pris­on­ers will return home.

The pris­on­er receives care pack­ages, although some­times they are deliv­ered late. The cor­re­spon­dence is restrict­ed. For some rea­son, his coat was con­fis­cat­ed and he does not have warm clothes for dai­ly exer­cise in the freez­ing cold.

Pavel Mazheika

Pavel Mazhei­ka, the head of the Hrod­na Urban Life Cen­ter and a jour­nal­ist, was detained on 30 August 2022. To date, not much is known to his fam­i­ly. They can’t even com­ment on the essence of Pavel’s case.

The dis­tant rel­a­tives whose homes were searched only man­aged to find out the num­ber of the crim­i­nal arti­cle – 361–4 (pro­mo­tion of extrem­ist activ­i­ty).

Rel­a­tives did not receive any of his let­ters, although he was pro­vid­ed with the sta­tion­ary and envelopes.

Accord­ing to the lawyer, Pavel feels okay and can be on file as a polit­i­cal pris­on­er. The jour­nal­ist and the lawyer are going to pre­pare a protest against putting him in cus­tody.

Henadz Mazheika

Henadz Mazhei­ka, Kom­so­mol­skaya Prav­da v Belarusi jour­nal­ist, has been behind bars for almost a year.

He was detained on 1 Octo­ber 2021. He is accused of insult­ing a pub­lic offi­cer and incit­ing social enmi­ty. His col­leagues know very lit­tle about Henadz. They say there has been no progress in the journalist’s case.

Andrei Skurko

Accord­ing to rel­a­tives, Nasha Niva jour­nal­ist Andrei Skurko feels very well and stays strong, calm, and adamant.

The rel­a­tives try to take after him.

He says that the less you let the cir­cum­stances rest inside you, the less you live them, the bet­ter.

Fam­i­ly mem­bers are hap­py that Andrei is tak­ing care of his phys­i­cal con­di­tion and health. He has insulin-depen­dent dia­betes but man­ages to keep his blood sug­ar at the right lev­el.

The jour­nal­ist some­times calls his wife and par­ents. He is only allowed to call and cor­re­spond with close fam­i­ly. When Andrei began video-call­ing, his son, who is 2 years and 8 months old, was final­ly able to com­mu­ni­cate with him direct­ly, instead of through poems and post­cards that his father con­stant­ly sends him. Father and son did not see each oth­er for 14 months.

Now Tamash some­times asks to call his father.

The fam­i­ly explained to the child that it is not pos­si­ble and he needs to wait for the call. The son has many plans for after Andrei’s release, which he and his father dis­cuss dur­ing phone con­ver­sa­tions.

Andrei Skurko was sen­tenced to two and a half years of impris­on­ment under Arti­cle 216 of the Crim­i­nal Code (caus­ing injury not qual­i­fy­ing for theft).