European Commission: sentencing of Iryna Slaunikava shows that the regime wants to silence independent journalism

The sentencing of Iryna Slaunikava, a former representative of Belsat TV in Belarus, to five years in a penal colony is, unfortunately, another example of how the regime in Minsk is trying to silence independent journalism, European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said.

“It is another closed-door trial in which a media representative is convicted of just doing her job. The EU strongly condemns this, as well as all other cases of media persecution in Belarus,” the spokesman said.

He added that 29 journalists are currently detained in Belarus.

“We reiterate our call to the regime to release all media workers from prison and to respect freedom of speech, media freedom and Belarus’s own international obligations in this regard,” said Stano.

Slaunikava was sentenced on Wednesday after a trial lasting over a month. The trial was held behind closed doors. Earlier, Slaunikava was recognized as a political prisoner by human rights defenders, and her trial was politically motivated.

Iryna Slaunikava, a Belarusian journalist and TVP correspondent, has been in custody since October 2021. Together with her husband, Alyaksandr Loyka, she was detained at the airport in Minsk. Both were first arrested for offenses like “disseminating extremist material” and then “petty hooliganism.”

After 45 days of arrest, Loyka was released, and Slaunikava was additionally charged with a criminal offense. Initially, it was “the organization of activities that seriously violate public order” and “the creation of an extremist formation.”

Slaunikava is an economist by profession. In the past, she cooperated, inter alia, with BAJ and Belsat TV, and at the time of her arrest, she was a TVP journalist.

belsat.eu according to PAP