Journalists attacked in court as gay hate crime case tried


A defendant’s relatives tried to pick up a fight with Belsat TV cameraman Ales Barazenka and RFE/RL journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich directly in the courtroom. They went near of breaking Barazenka’s camera but managed to grab a voice recorder from Hruzdzilovich.

It is noteworthy that police officers had been standing still for a while before intervening and getting the instigators out of the room.

The journalists were performing their professional duties at the trial of Dzmitry Lukashevich in Tsentralny district court in Minsk.

Mr Lukashevich is accused of severe beating of Mikhail Pishcheuski in May, 2014. The victim was in a coma, underwent several operations and is still in the vegetative state.

The judge put a ban on recording the trial, but the journalists availed themselves of the right to film before and after it. But this sent the offender’s family and friends into a rage and they started to attack the reporters.

“My camera was nearly broken; they also stole a wind noise reducer. They attacked Mr Hruzdzilovich and took a voice recorder from him. It was later found in snow,” Ales Barazenka says.

Pishcheuski’s sexual orientation allegedly became the reason for the attack. Having realised that the victim was badly hurt Lukashevich and his companions left the scene. The medics found Mikhail Pishcheuski in a critical state. Approximately 20% of his brain had to be cut in the course of a number of surgeries. Mikhail was in a coma for about a month and the hope for his recovery was poor. The charity account details for all non-indifferent people who are ready to help Mikhail are here.

www.belsat.eu/en

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