Police arrests journalists Three journalists will spend a few days in pre-trial detention centers

On May 5 Mahil­iou traf­fic police stopped two cars with the team the blog­ger, who arrived in the city to meet with the fol­low­ers. How­ev­er, Mahil­iou fol­low­ers man­aged to pre­vent the deten­tion of the blog­gers by police. Alexan­der Burak­ou and Mikhail Arshyn­s­ki were report­ing from the venue.  Human rights defend­ers believe the police will attempt to charge them with par­tic­i­pa­tion in an unsanc­tioned ral­ly.

Mikhail Arshyn­s­ki post­ed a video of the events on May 5^th in Mahil­iou.

Arshyn­s­ki and Burak­ou will be tried on May 11. They will stay behind bars until tri­al.

Zmitser Lupach from Hly­bokaye was detained on sim­i­lar charges.  Accord­ing to the police, Zmitser took part in an unsanc­tioned ral­ly — a meet­ing with blog­ger Siarhei Tsikhanous­ki.

Zmitser Lupach will be tried on 11 May by Hly­bokaye Dis­trict Court at 10.00. Before the tri­al, the jour­nal­ist will stay in cus­tody.

On May 9, Bel­sat cam­era­man, free­lancer Alexan­der Barazen­ka was detained. He was detained in Pukhavichy region, while dri­ving to shoot the «anti-parade» action in Babruisk. The jour­nal­ist was kept in the local police sta­tion for about three hours and then released. The pre­text for his deten­tion was his licence plate, which alleged­ly aroused sus­pi­cion of the traf­fic police.

Alexan­der Barazen­ka says, his phone got blocked as soon as he was arrest­ed, although there was enough mon­ey on his account. His phone start­ed to work again right after the jour­nal­ist was released.