Belsat TV journalist Katsyaryna Andreyeva has got one more fine for illegal production and distribution of media products, i.e. for working without accreditation.
She will have to pay 1,225 Belarusian rubles (about $610) to the state budget. The case was heard on May, 23 in Savetski district court of Minsk. The fine was imposed by judge Vera Halaukova.
Katsyaryna Andreyeva was not present at the hearing – on that day she was working at the Minsk Dialogue Forum, where she asked Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makey why the authorities had repeatedly refused to accredit Belsat TV in Belarus.
“Our journalists appear before court very often. There is nothing but a treadmill, a flow of summonses and rulings. Frankly speaking, I have no idea for what they tried me last. Apparently, the Belarusian judges have nothing else to do but penalize journalists again and again,” the reporter believes.
Since 2017, seven administrative protocols have been drawn upon Katsyaryna Andreyeva over her contribution to Belsat TV.
Because of the work in the ‘partisan’ conditions, Belsat employees are often on trial for illegal production of media materials (Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code) and work without accreditation. In 2017 alone, Belsat contributors paid to the state as much as $ 14,000 in fines.
According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, last year, 94% of fines for alleged illegal manufacturing of media materials fell on the journalists of “Belsat”.
Belsat TV began broadcasting on December 10, 2007.
ІІ, belsat.eu
