‘We don’t speak Belarusian, you want Maidan here’: Homiel police detain journalists


The police detained Homiel-based journalists Kastus Zhukouski and Natallia Kryvashey. They are being kept in a police department of Tsentralny district of Homiel.

“They are drawing up phony protocols: they say we threatened them with a Maidan. They are using bad language and compromising our dignity,” Kastus Zhukouski told belsat.eu.

According to the journalist, they were grabbed directly in front of the police station. “The police officer who detained us has already gone somewhere. We are staying at the police control room, there is also some major and another police officer, they did not introduce themselves. They say they will draw up protocols on us. They are insulting us – they call us ‘Banderovites’,  and state they do not understand the Belarusian language,” he said.

Police officer Maxim Mintusau told the reporters that he would seize their camera because they had taken a photo of the police department’s signboard.

This is not the first time that the police have arrested journalists in Homiel region. On July 16,  Kastus Zhukovsky and Natallia Kryvashey were detained by traffic police for filming a story about the outbreak of swine fever in Rechytsa district. 

The police and the prosecutor’s office keep persecuting independent journalists, courts fabricate cases over ‘distribution of media products’ against them. According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, a number of journalists is now waiting for heating their trials, in particular, Ales Lyauchuk, Ales Dzyanisau, Ales Kirkevich, Alina Litvinchuk and Ihar Barysau.

 Read also: Belarus authorities keep imposing fines on independent journalists

www.belsat.eu/en/

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