A prominent journalist in Belarus was sentenced on Wednesday to six years imprisonment, the latest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition leaders, independent journalists and human rights activists.
On trial in the city of Grodno in western Belarus, Pavel Mazheika, 45, was found guilty of “complicity in extremist activity” for covering the activities of the political opposition. He was accused of working for news outlets including Belsat TV, which broadcasts in Belarusian from its base in neighbouring Poland. The Belarusian authorities have labelled Belsat as “extremist.”
Lawyer Yuliya Yurhilevich also was sentenced to six years in prison after she was accused of giving Mazheika information on Belarus’ political prisoners, notably on dissident artist Ales Pushkin who died in a Belarusian prison earlier this month. Yurhilevich, 42, who practiced law for almost 18 years and defended human rights activists, was stripped of her license in February 2022. “This is not a trial, but a theatre of the absurd – a journalist and a lawyer are being tried for disseminating information,” Mazheika said during the trial. Mazheika is a well-known figure in Belarus. In 2002, he was sentenced to two years in jail for “slandering the president,” before becoming press secretary for presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich in 2006. Mazheika has since worked for leading independent news outlets in both Belarus and Poland, hosting several shows and acting as executive director for Belsat TV. The journalist has spent 11 months behind bars since his arrest in August 2022. Earlier, Mazheika said that during his detention he was severely beaten by law enforcement officers, and accused them of trying to gouge out his eye.
