Russian court bans Belarusian newspaper’s reports due to military censorship

June 22, BPN. A court in St. Petersburg has banned reports by Belarusian newspaper Belorusy i Rynok, the city courts’ joint press service reported on June 21.

It also banned reports by Radio France Internationale’s Russian service.

Their websites contain forbidden content, such as details on the Russian Armed Forces’ personnel losses during the “special operation” in Ukraine, as well as names and personal data of those killed, it said.

The court imposed the bans at military prosecutors’ requests.

On May 18, Committee for State Security (KGB) officers arrested Belorusy i Rynok director Kanstancin Załatych and the newspaper’s accountant Julija Kachno, who was released later in the day.

Załatych was charged with incitement of “hatred combined with violence,” the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported. He may face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is held in a jail as he waits for his trial.

Human rights activists consider him to be a political prisoner.

The Belorusy i Rynok monthly focused on current economic affairs. One of the first private media in Belarus, it was published since late 1990.

It is still formally registered in Belarus and remains the country’s last private print media covering sociopolitical developments, although its print version has not been coming out for quite a while.