BAJ demands the immediate release of Yahor Martsinovich!

State­ment of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists

Sep­tem­ber 23 Nasha Niva edi­tor in chief Yahor Martsi­novich was detained on sus­pi­cion of defama­tion in the arti­cle men­tion­ing the Deputy Min­is­ter of Inter­nal Affairs Alexan­der Bar­suk­ou. The apart­ment of the jour­nal­ist was searched.

Yahor Martsi­novich is placed in cus­tody for three days.

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists stands for decrim­i­nal­iza­tion of defama­tion, in its essence.

In the crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion of Yahor Martsi­novich, we see man­i­fes­ta­tion of cen­sor­ship and abuse of the legal norms aimed at restric­tion of the free­dom of speech.

We demand the imme­di­ate release of Yahor Martsi­novich and dis­missal of the crim­i­nal pro­ceed­ings!

Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists