Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi journalist goes on trial

December 1, BPN. The Minsk City Court has started hearing a case against Hienadź Mažejka, a former journalist with Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi charged over his coverage of a shooting incident in Minsk, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

Mažejka is accused of inciting hatred and insulting a public officer for including positive quotes about the victim in his report. Prosecutors also accuse him posting negative online comments about Alaksandr Łukašenka.

Judge Taćciana Falkoŭskaja presides over the proceedings.

Mažejka has been in custody since October 2021 over an article he wrote on the 2021 shootout that left two people dead, IT engineer Andrej Zielcer and a KGB officer.

The state-run media said the article cast Zielcer in a positive light. Although Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi took down the story, it did not stop the information ministry from blocking access to the newspaper’s website. A ban on distribution eventually forced Russian-owned Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi to shut down.

The Committee for the State Security (KGB) said that about 200 people were arrested over online comments on the shootout. At least 136 of them were charged with inciting hatred and insulting a public official.

Human rights defenders know the names of 104 defendants and declared 93 of them political prisoners. The authorities have already sentenced 43 persons to prison terms. Three commenters received restricted freedom sentences.

At least 32 Belarusian media workers are behind bars, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). Belarus is the fourth largest prison for journalists after China, Myanmar and Iran.