Minsk police detain activists paying tribute to Ukraine's heroes, bar Belsat from filming


Paying tribute to first victims of the protests in Kyiv who were killed a year ago Belarusian civil activists laid and indifferent people flowers to the monument to famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko on Thursday, January 22. All of them were detained and taken to Central District Department of Interior in Minsk.  

On January 22, 2014 two men were killed by gunfire amid clashes between demonstrators and police in Kyiv. The both men had been at Euromaidan for weeks. One, Sergey Nigoyan, was an ethnic Armenian, the other, Mikhail Zhyzneuski, was a Belarusian native.

“The participants [some 15 persons – Belsat] managed to hold an action, laid flowers, lit candles, said prayers and sang Ukraine’s anthem. When people were leaving police started to grab them,” Belsat TV journalist Tatsiana Ulasenka said.

Over 40 plain-clothed persons were eeping a close eye on the action. They prevented a Belsat cameraman from covering the event and dragged him out of the garden square. “As you are not accredited, you have no right to film,” they said.

Several detainees were released, but civil activists Volha Nikalaichyk, Maxim Viniarski, Ales Makayeu and others are to appear before court on January, 23, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reports. 

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It is to be recalled that in March, 2013 Belsat TV made its third attempt to get a formal accreditation and filed all the necessary documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But in vain: the Ministry’s officers refused to register its correspondent office in Minsk referring to Belsat contributors’ alleged law violations. As our journalists and contributors have to perform their professional duties without any accreditation they repeatedly draw fire from public officers.

www.belsat.eu/en

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