Imprisoned Belsat journalist charged again and facing lengthy sentence


Kasyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova in a court cage on the day they were sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony. Minsk, 18.02.2021.
Photo: belsat.eu

Katsyaryna Andreyeva is to stand trial again. This time the political prisoner was accused of treason. Earlier, Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s regime sentenced the journalist who had been covering the action to commemorate Raman Bandarenka. Raman was beaten to death by police. Katsyaryna was sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony for “organizing riots”.

Belsat journalist Katsyaryna Andreyeva and our camerawoman Darya Chultsova were detained on November 15, 2020, following the brutal pacification of the memorial action in the “Square of Changes” – a courtyard, where Raman Bandarenka was beaten to death. On February 18, 2021, our colleagues were sentenced to 2 years in a penal colony for “organizing riots” and blocking public transport. The court handed down the sentence despite contradictory witness testimonies, lack of evidence and the absurd assumption that the person covering the protest was its organizer. Both journalists were sent to the female penal colony No. 4 in Homel, where they sew uniforms for the Belarusian service. They were to be released on September 5 this year.

However, on February 10, Katsyaryna was transferred from the penal colony to the Homel Detention Center. For 55 days, her relatives were not informed about the new charges. Just the other day, the family of the political prisoner learned that she had been charged with treason (part 1, article 356 of the Criminal Code). The investigation has already been completed, the case was sent to court. The trial is expected to start in May, Katsyaryna’s husband Ihar Ilyash informed.

Ihar Ilyash, Katsyaryna Andreyeva’s husband and Belsat journalist after the court session on his wife’s case. Minsk, 9 February 2021.
Photo: TK/belsat.eu

The investigation was conducted by the KGB office for the Homel region. The husband of the accused stresses that “it is not known on the basis of which events the accusations were made”. The family has not been informed about it. According to Ihar, not only was the investigation fully classified but also the trial is likely to be behind closed doors.

“However, one does not need to know the details to understand the whole absurdity of the accusation,” the journalist stresses.

According to him, this is reminiscent of the Stalinist practice, when a new criminal case was initiated against political prisoners because they had reached the end of their previous sentence.

“Katsya is completely innocent. She has never committed anything against the law. This criminal case is appalling in its cynicism and cruelty revenge for her journalistic work,” wrote Ihar Ilyash on Facebook.

It is possible that Ihar will also be a defendant in the case. Together with Katsyaryna, he wrote a book “Belarusian Donbas”, in which they revealed that Alyaksandr Lukashenka‘s regime, contrary to its own claims, had been supporting the so-called separatist republics in eastern Ukraine. The book was deemed “extremist” and banned from sale in Belarus. Ihar, though he could have done so, did not emigrate from Belarus. He wanted to stay in the country. so he could visit his wife in the penal colony.

There are currently 1,103 political prisoners of the Lukashenka regime in Belarusian prisons and detention centers. Among them are four of our colleagues: journalist Katsyaryna Andreyeva, camerawoman Darya Chultsova, former journalist Iryna Slaunikava and publicist, philosopher Uladzimir Matskevich.

belsat.eu

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