Journalist Andrei Maslousky has been convicted of “dissemination of extremist materials,” writes the Tribuna publication, included in the list of “extremist” media.
On the evening of September 6, it emerged that Andrei Maslouski was detained. He is a former correspondent of the sports portal By.Tribuna.com. According to Tribuna, in the morning, his apartment was searched, he was detained and later he was given an “explanatory talk” in the building of GUBOPIC. Then the journalist was taken to the Minsk detention center on Akrestsin Street.
On 8 September, Maslouski was sentenced to 15 days by a Minsk court for “distribution of products included in the list of extremist materials” (part 2 of article 19 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus – “extremist materials”). (part 2 of article 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Belarus). It is not known what kind of materials they were, but Maslouski’s former employer, Tribuna, was included in the list by court decision on August 6, so a link to their site or a repost of their news on the social network is already considered “distribution.” Even distribution of the Tribuna mobile app, which is handled by Apple and Google, is now considered illegal in Belarus.
The head of the Tribuna Maksim Byarezinski said that “the purpose of the pressure on the media is to silence them.” He mentioned that “in football, it’s called a desperation kick.”
Maslouski worked at the Tribuna for ten years, resigned by mutual agreement in July 2021, moved to Sportarena.by.
