Journalist Fined in Hlybokaye

The jour­nal­ist wrote an arti­cle “Roads will become more pos­i­tive” about an artis­tic exper­i­ment of stu­dents of the local school of art. The arti­cle was pub­lished on the web­site of the Radio Racy­ja.

The case was ini­ti­at­ed by Hly­bokaye prosecutor’s office. The judge dis­missed the motion to hold the hear­ing in the Belaru­sian lan­guage. One wit­ness, a rep­re­sen­ta­tive pf the local exec­u­tive com­mit­tee whose words were quot­ed in the arti­cle, did not appear at the hear­ing.

Tat­siana Smotk­i­na argued that she worked as a free­lancer and exer­cised her con­sti­tu­tion­al right to gath­er and dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion.

Also, on July 23, anoth­er jour­nal­ist from Hly­bokaye Zmitser Lupach was fined under the same admin­is­tra­tive arti­cle.

At least five more jour­nal­ists are await­ing tri­als for vio­lat­ing art. 22.9.

We remind that recent­ly BAJ has protest­ed against the pros­e­cu­tion under art. 22.9 and eager­ly hopes for a sen­si­ble response from the offi­cials.

Fines to Journalists for Violating Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code (Chart) (Updated)