Belarus jails journalists for two years over protest coverage

MINSK – A court in Belarus today sentenced a pair of television journalists to two years in prison for covering a protest last year, the first lengthy jail term in a legal crackdown on independent news media.

Standing defiant in a cage, Katerina Bakhvalova, 27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, flashed victory signs as they smiled and blew kisses to the courtroom ahead of the verdict.

The two women were detained in November while filming anti-government rallies that swept Belarus after strongman Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory in an August election that the opposition said was rigged.

The women, who denied their guilt on the first day of their trial earlier this month, were accused of “attracting people to participate in a mass event” via their broadcast and convicted of leading “group actions that grossly violate public order”.

Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya praised the two journalists on her Telegram, lauding their defiance following the verdict. 

The case has sparked widespread condemnation from Western countries and advocacy groups.

Human Rights Watch urged Belarusian authorities to “stop treating journalists as their enemies”, while the president of neighbouring Poland called for “an amnesty”.

‘Absurd situation’ 

Bakhvalova and Chultsova, who work for the Poland-based television channel Belsat, were detained filming a rally in November in support of a protester the opposition believes died at the hands of security services.

“I showed these events live. For this I was thrown into jail on trumped-up charges,” Belsat reported Bakhvalova as telling the judge in her final statement before sentencing.

“It’s an absurd situation because the journalists were just covering the protest,” her lawyer told reporters after the ruling outside the court in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

The demonstrator, 31-year-old former soldier Roman Bondarenko, died from brain damage in Minsk after police arrested him.

Investigators later said he showed signs of intoxication, but independent Belarusian media cited a doctor as saying no alcohol had been found in his system.

The journalist who published the story, Katerina Borisevich, and the doctor, Artyom Sorokin, were soon detained on charges of “divulging medical secrets, which entailed grave consequences”. They are set to go on trial tomorrow.

The prosecutor general’s office said in a statement it had opened a criminal case into Bondarenko’s death.

Growing crackdown 

Lukashenko weathered the protests and last week claimed his ex-Soviet country had defeated a foreign intervention.

As the demonstrations subside, the authorities are pursuing a number of criminal cases against activists and the press.

Eleven journalists are currently detained in connection with the protests, according to the independent Belarus Association of Journalists.

Yesterday also saw the start of the trial of leading opposition member Viktor Babaryko, who was arrested ahead of the presidential election just as he announced his candidacy.

The former banker was one of several opposition figures who were arrested or forced to flee the country.

Several Western leaders have refused to recognise the election results, while the European Union has imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and his allies.

But Lukashenko continues to receive Moscow’s backing, and today the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would host him for talks on Monday.