Sergei Sat­suk, an inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist and for­mer edi­tor of the Yezhed­nevnik por­tal, was detained on 12/8/2021. He is known for his inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism on cor­rup­tion in the high­er ech­e­lons of the Belaru­sian gov­ern­ment. His last inves­ti­ga­tions were about cor­rup­tion in the Min­istry of Health. It was these jour­nal­is­tic inves­ti­ga­tions, as well as his arti­cles about the author­i­ties’ atti­tude towards the pan­dem­ic, that became the real rea­son for his pros­e­cu­tion.

On 23.09.2023, the Belaru­sian court on trumped up charges sen­tenced him not only to a long term of impris­on­ment (8 years), but also to a fine of 16,000 Belaru­sian rubles, as well as to reim­burse­ment to the state the mon­ey alleged­ly obtained by crim­i­nal means (12,340 Belaru­sian rubles).  The appeal court not only expect­ed­ly left the ver­dict unchanged, but also con­sid­ered the appeal of Siarhei Sat­souk in closed regime, although the first tri­al was open.

Sergei Sat­suk lived in a vil­lage 20 km from Min­sk, in his small house, which he built with his own hands over sev­er­al years and for which he still has debts to pay. His wife (dis­abled, not work­ing), daugh­ter and grand­son lived with him.

On account of the finan­cial car­tels imposed by the Belaru­sian author­i­ties, Sergei Sat­suk’s mod­est sec­ond-hand car, which he had bought on cred­it (still unpaid by the fam­i­ly) short­ly before his arrest, was seized. With­out the car it will be very dif­fi­cult for the fam­i­ly to con­tin­ue liv­ing in the house, as the author­i­ties have sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduced bus traf­fic to the vil­lage, so it will be almost impos­si­ble for their grand­son to get to school and for Sergei’s daugh­ter to get to work in Min­sk. As a last resort (if they con­fis­cate the car and oth­er prop­er­ty), the fam­i­ly is already con­sid­er­ing sell­ing the house. At the last meet­ing with his fam­i­ly, Sergei Sat­suk asked very much to try to keep their house, which was his dream and the first real estate they could buy.

The fam­i­ly has found mon­ey to pay some of the fore­clo­sures, but it is clear­ly not enough.   
Any amount that can be raised is impor­tant.

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