News

On Thursday. freelance photographer Tatsyana Kapitonava was detained at Startup Family coworking in Minsk, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reports.

May 3 is World Press Freedom Day. This is an occasion to reflect on the fundamental human rights and freedoms, to remind the authorities of the need to respect the freedom of the press, which comes from one of the basic, natural freedoms —  freedom of speech. Unfortunately, last year the situation in the media sphere has deteriorated significantly in Belarus. 

Following the pledge of the Baranovichi inter-district prosecutor's office, an interview with former presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanovskaya and its video published by Intex-press were recognized as extremist materials.

On 20 April, the Minsk City Court considered the appeal against the sentence of TUT.BY journalist Katerina Borisevich. On 2 March, the Moskovsky District Court sentenced our colleague to six months in prison. The prosecutor’s office considered this decision too lenient and filed a protest. Katerina Borisevich’s defense still believes that she is innocent and insists on acquittal.

Judge of the Oktyabrsky district court in Mogilev Olga Kravchenko found Brest bloggers Sergei Petrukhin and Alexander Kabanov guilty of organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, insulting a government official. Petrukhin was also found guilty of insulting a judge. Both were sentenced to three years in a general regime colony. The bloggers were not present during the hearings: they were removed from the courtroom at the beginning of the trial. The judge rejected all petitions for the participation of the accused in the process.