June 9, Pozirk. The Supreme Court upheld the 14-year prison sentence imposed on media manager Uładzimir Janukievič, who was convicted of high treason earlier this year, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported.
His associate Andrej Pakalenka’s sentence on similar charges was reduced from 12 to 11 years in prison.
Both journalists were associated with the BAR24 and Intex Press media in Baranavičy, Brest region. Their persecution reflects a broader crackdown on independent Belarusian media and journalists, rights groups noted, after designating Janukievič and Pakalenka as political prisoners.
Janukievič, 65, and Pakalenka, 44, served as CEO and deputy CEO of the local newspaper Intex-Press, designated as “extremist content” by authorities in April 2023. The designation followed a police raid on the newspaper’s office on February 15, 2023, in which law enforcement officers seized all computers and cameras. Janukievič and Pakalenka went on to launch the news website bar24.by, but were arrested in December 2024.
Currently, at least 21 media workers are held behind bars in Belarus, according to BAJ.
