Problem unsolved, journo on trial: Lida court imposes fine on Belsat TV contributor
Judge Syarhei Pipko has imposed BYN 420 fine on journalist Stanislau Ivashkevich.
A protocol was drawn upon Stanislau for the story ‘The Village in Lida District Drowning in Pig Manure’, which was aired by Belsat on June 30. The journalist was accused of ‘illegal production and distribution of media products’ (Art. 22.9 of the Criminal Code), i.e. for work without accreditation.
The report on the poor environmental conditions in a village near Lida caused a public outcry. However, instead of taking proper measures, the authorities decided to… punish the journalist.
“When we were making the report, we asked the local environmental protection inspectorate to help us. We have a document showing the results of the inspection. According to them, the concentration of harmful substances in the river is over the limit by a factor of hundreds. However, it is the journalist, not the director of the pig farm, who is on trial today. And the problem of pollution remains unsolved,” Ivashkevich said.
Stanislau Ivashkevich did have an accreditation of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, but after his investigation into corruption issues in Belenergo state-owned company, the document was not renewed.
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Belsat TV which has been broadcasting for nine years, has been denied accreditation for its journalists during these very nine years. The Belarusian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly declared that it could not issue any accreditation to Belsat because the journalists working for the TV station … break the law.
Thus, the circle closes: journalists are denied accreditation because they break the law and they break the law, because they work without accreditation that they seek… And it explains the existence of absurdist Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code, which provides punishment for ‘illegal production and distribution of media products’. If you have accreditation, you are allowed be a journalist. If you do not have it – you are outlawed.
belsat.eu
