Journalist Pavel Mazheika recognized as political prisoner

Human rights activists point out that Pavel Mazhei­ka was tak­en into cus­tody for exer­cis­ing free­dom of expres­sion, so his crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion and depri­va­tion of lib­er­ty are polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed. In this regard, human rights defend­ers demand the imme­di­ate release of the jour­nal­ist and the ter­mi­na­tion of the crim­i­nal case against him.

Ear­li­er, the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists demand­ed the release of Pavel Mazhei­ka.

The famous Hrod­na jour­nal­ist and pub­lic fig­ure Pavel Mazhei­ka was detained and arrest­ed in Hrod­na on 30 August and put into cus­tody in an unknown crim­i­nal case. His lawyer has signed a pledge of secre­cy.

Fol­low­ing his arrest, a web­site ded­i­cat­ed to his activ­i­ties was set up.

In 2021, a crim­i­nal case was opened against Pavel Mazhei­ka, artist Ales Pushkin, and “oth­er per­sons” under part 3 of Art. 130 of the Crim­i­nal Code for “actions aimed at the reha­bil­i­ta­tion and jus­ti­fi­ca­tion of Nazism.” The rea­son was the demon­stra­tion of a por­trait of Yauhen Zhykhar, a Belaru­sian anti-Sovi­et activist, with a machine gun on his shoul­der at a paint­ing exhi­bi­tion on 19 March 2021, the prosecutor’s office said. Mazhei­ka was lat­er released due to a “lack of grounds for deten­tion.”

You can sup­port the jour­nal­ist with let­ters and post­cards at the address: 230023, Grod­no, Turma‑1, ul. Kiro­va 1, Mazhei­ka Pavel Ivanavich