Four belarusian journalists go on trial as Lukashenka’s crackdown continues

The tri­al in Min­sk of Bela­PAN’s for­mer direc­tor, Dzmit­ry Navazhy­lau; his for­mer deputy, Andrey Alyak­san­drau; Edi­tor In Chief Iry­na Leushy­na; and reporter Iry­na Zlobi­na began behind closed doors on June 6.

Navazhy­lau is charged with tax eva­sion and the cre­ation of an extrem­ist group. Alyak­san­drau faces the same charges and is also accused of high trea­son and the orga­ni­za­tion of ille­gal ral­lies.

Zlobi­na is charged with high trea­son and the orga­ni­za­tion of ille­gal ral­lies, while Leushy­na is accused of cre­at­ing an extrem­ist group.

All four have reject­ed the charges. The case against them was launched last year after police searched Bela­PAN’s head­quar­ters.

In late 2020, sev­er­al Bela­PAN jour­nal­ists fled the coun­try fol­low­ing anoth­er wave of search­es by police of homes of inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ists.

Lukashen­ka, 67 and in pow­er since 1994, has tight­ened his grip on the coun­try since the elec­tion by arrest­ing — some­times vio­lent­ly — tens of thou­sands of peo­ple. Fear­ing for their safe­ty, most oppo­si­tion mem­bers have been forced to flee the coun­try.

The West has refused to rec­og­nize the results of the elec­tion and does not con­sid­er Lukashen­ka to be the coun­try’s legit­i­mate leader. Many coun­tries have imposed sev­er­al rounds of sanc­tions against his regime in response to the sup­pres­sion of dis­sent in the coun­try.