Journalists Zhukouski and Atroshchanka detained in Svetlahorsk


Freelance journalists Kastus Zhukouski and Alyaksaei Atroshchanka were taken to the police station in Svetlahorsk. The journalists were detained in the central square, where the authorities had cut spruce and walnut trees.

First, the police approached the journalists and asked for ID. After the check, a police major, who said his name was Vyazhevich, ran up to the journalists and told them to show IDs again. Reporters said that they had just presented the documents and there was no reason to do it again.

“Major began to shake, Kastus told Belsat.eu. – His reaction was strange. He began to yell at us, asking if we have accreditation? We said that the right to freely spread information is guaranteed by the Constitution of Belarus. Major said we had to go to the police station. We did not resist. In the station he behaved inappropriately: grabbed the camera, my arm, pushed me, insulted me, and tried to provoke me in every way. I wrote a complaint about such actions of the police…”

After this, the police filed protocols against journalists and kept them there for about three hours, later releasing him.

“In fact, they had expected us in Svetlahorsk, says Zhukouski. – Cutting of live trees in the city is not a political case, but it annoys people”.

This year Kastus Zhukouski and Alyaksei Atroshchanka have been detained around 10 times by the police preventing them to perform professional duties.

This spring, Kastus Zhukouski sewed up his mouth in protest against the high fines, used by the authorities to punish independent journalists for their work.

Maksim Yarashevich, belsat.eu

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