RFE/RL contributor Andrey Kuznechyk not released after spending 20 days in jail


Andrey Kuznechyk, a freelance journalist and a Minsk-based contributor of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has not been released from prison after serving two ten-day terms of administrative arrest, RFE/RL reports.

On November 25, Andrey Kuznechyk was reported to be out of reach. Later it became known that he was detained by four people in plain clothes during a bike ride. His flat was searched; computer equipment and other things were seized. On the same evening, the police gained access to the Radio Svaboda Telegram channel for a while: as a result, it started publishing insulting remarks about its own posts and links to pro-government outlets and social media profiles.

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Radio Liberty freelancer detained in Minsk, his apartment searched and equipment seized
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As a result, Zavodski district court of Minsk found Andrey Kuznechyk guilty of ‘petty hooliganism’ and sentenced him to 10 days in prison. The defendant pleaded not guilty. On December 6, the man got another 10 days.

On December 6, RFE/RL President Jamie Fly said the extension of Kuznechyk’s sentence ‘on absurdly fabricated charges’ should be considered a crime in itself.

“Andrey’s state-sponsored kidnapping continues, all in furtherance of the Lukashenka regime’s efforts to block independent information from reaching the Belarusian people. Andrey should be allowed to return to his family immediately,” Fly said, referring to Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

On Wednesday evening, the second arrest term expired, but Kuznechyk remained in the detention centre again; the reason for that is unknown. The prison authorities refuse to accept food parcels and essentials for him.

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The Kuznechyk family lives in Minsk and has two small children. Andrey Kuznechyk is also a philologist, cyclist, and blogger.

As reported earlier, the Belarusian authorities recognised the Telegram channel of Radio Svaboda as extremist. By the moment, more than 300 Telegram channels and chats in Belarus are on the ‘extremist’ list. Earlier this year, the websites of Belsat, TUT.by, Tribuna, reform.by, Deutsche Welle, Novy Chas, Current Time and others were declared ‘extremist’. It should be noted that the words ‘extremism’ and ‘destructive activity’ are now used by the Lukashenka regime to condemn any manifestation of dissent and protest moods.

Thus, anyone who shares news of the ‘extremist’ portals or even a photo with their logo in social networks or even private messages may be punished. Moreover, the Belarusian security officers interpret the law so that they also punish for posts and messages made before the recognition of materials as ‘extremist’. Under Article 19.11, a fine from 290 to 870 rubles may be imposed on the defendant, as well as administrative arrest and confiscation of equipment which is recognised as ‘means for committing a crime’.

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