Siarhei Satsuk arrested and interrogated as suspect in crime
Siarhei Satsuk, chief editor of the online publication EJ.BY, was arrested on March 25 by officers of the Department of Financial Investigations.
He was arrested in front of his wife Zhanna, reports NN.BY.
«We went to the hardware store in Stsikleva, near Minsk. We almost entered the the store, as two people approached us. I thought at first that he met his friends, but then they started taking him to the side, — said the journalists’ wife to NN.
— I say: Where are you going? He answers: I am being arrested.
The men who arrested him showed id’s of the Department of Financial Investigations. I asked them why they arrested Siarhei, and they said I would be informed later.
According to his wife, Satsuk hasn’t been investigating any high-profile issues lately. She has no idea of what could be the reason for his arerst.
A duty attorney was invited for Satsuk’s interrogation already after closing hours. This probably means that the journalist was interrogated as a suspect.
Later the police confirmed that Satsuk was interrogated as a suspect in a criminal case in the presence of a duty attorney.
Siarhei Satsuk is known for his investigative journalism. His last high-profile investigation was about procurement of Eupenta vaccine that was unregistered at the time.
In August 2019 Satsuk told BelaPAN that he had received threats because of his activities .
— After the first of two articles on corruption, where Medvedsky was mentioned, I was approached by an unexpected person. I will not reveal his name yet. He put it bluntly: if I didn’t stop, I would be either killed, or jailed, — Satsuk said.
March 23, 2020 EJ.BY published an article by Satsuk «Who is spreading panic around the coronavirus, the president or websites and channels?». In the article, the author questioned the official statistics on COVID-19 in Belarus.
Siarhei Satsuk is a member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Previously he was editor of the law, incidents and investigative journalism section of BDG.