pressure on mass media

They have been accused of inciting hostility, the Investigative Committee reports. If one is found guilty under this article, they may face up to 12 years in prison.

Henadz Mazheika, a journalist of the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus, has not been released from the deteintion centre after spending 72 hours there. Last week he contributed to the article regarding the shootout in Minsk as well as the deaths of KGB officer Dzmitry Fedasyuk and IT specialist Andrey Zeltsar.

Andrey Kukharchyk, the editor-in-chief of the Virtual Brest website, has been charged with insulting a government official, the Interior Ministry reports.

BelaPAN director Iryna Leushyna and former director Dzmitry Navazhylau have been accused of tax evasion (Article 243-2 of the Criminal Code), naviny.by reports. If found guilty under this article, one may be sentenced to up to 5 years of restriction of liberty or 3 to 7 years in jail.

On September 6, Belarusian security officers raided the apartment of former Tribuna correspondent Andrey Maslouski, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reports.

From the TDF in Akrestsina to the pre-trial detention center in Valadarski street

The term of detention of investigative journalist and Belsat TV contributor Ihar Ilyash has been extended; he has not been released on Monday.

On July 11, detained Belsat TV journalist Zmitser Lupach and activist Alyaksandr Sharabayka were released from prison. The three-day term, during which the detainees were to be informed whether a criminal case was instituted against them, expired.

Two more prominent journalists have left the country

According to one of Telegram channels administered by students, Hlafira Zhuk, a reporter at the Narodnaya Volya newspaper, has been expelled from the Belarusian State University’s School of Journalism.