Ales Sabaleuski not released following second administrative detention

Jour­nal­ists and human rights activists from Mahil­iou report that Ales Sabaleus­ki may have been trans­ferred to a pre-tri­al deten­tion cen­ter. How­ev­er, fur­ther clar­i­fi­ca­tion is need­ed regard­ing his cur­rent charges.

Sabaleus­ki was arrest­ed at his work­place in a rental office by law enforce­ment offi­cials on Decem­ber 12, 2023. This occurred short­ly after Mahil­iou jour­nal­ists were arrest­ed and tak­en for inter­ro­ga­tion at the KGB HQ. The crack­down was due to the dec­la­ra­tion of Mahiliou.Media and 6TV Bielarus as extrem­ist for­ma­tions.

Ales Sabaleus­ki has been tar­get­ed by law enforce­ment mul­ti­ple times in recent years. In Jan­u­ary 2021, law enforce­ment searched the jour­nal­ist, the edi­to­r­i­al office of the Mahilous­ki Rajon inform

ation web­site, and the pri­vate homes of sev­er­al region­al jour­nal­ists. The seized office equip­ment was returned to the jour­nal­ists ten months lat­er, in Octo­ber 2022.

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