Will be a number of trials against journalists

Jour­nal­ist Kat­siary­na Tkachen­ka is sum­moned to the Moscow Dis­trict Court of Min­sk on Fri­day, Jan­u­ary 29, as a per­son against whom admin­is­tra­tive process is being con­duct­ed.

Kat­siary­na is accused of work­ing with­out accred­i­ta­tion under arti­cle 22.9 of the Code of Admin­is­tra­tive Vio­la­tions. The tri­al of jour­nal­ist will begin at 12:30 in office 135.

The jour­nal­ist faces a fine from 20 to 50 pri­ma­ry amounts.

Also jour­nal­ist Ivan Kurake­vich will be tried under art. 22.9 of the CoAO in Min­sk on Jan­u­ary 29.

And in Zhlobin, an admin­is­tra­tive case under art. 22.9 of the Code of Admin­is­tra­tive Vio­la­tions was referred to the court regard­ing jour­nal­ist Ale­na Shcherbin­skaya.

Also, jour­nal­ist Ales Silich was sum­moned to the Zavod­sky police depart­ment. It is note­wor­thy that the jour­nal­ist did not even pre­pare the mate­r­i­al, but on Jan­u­ary 10 and 24 he joined Bel­sat’s Skype broad­cast from Min­sk and spoke about the events in the cap­i­tal. He is accused of these two episodes.

Per­se­cu­tion for work­ing with­out accred­i­ta­tion is a com­mon form of pres­sure on jour­nal­ists in Belarus. The Bel­sat TV has repeat­ed­ly called upon the Min­istry of For­eign Affairs with a request to grant such accred­i­ta­tion to jour­nal­ists, but has not yet received it.

In 2020, many for­eign media out­lets had their accred­i­ta­tions with­drawn by the For­eign Min­istry, so their jour­nal­ists were forced to leave Belarus or work here, but for­mal­ly vio­lat­ing the law.