OSCE official calls on Belarus to free former journalist

December 14, BPN. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s media freedom representative Teresa Ribeiro has called on Belarus to release former reporter Łarysa Ščyrakova.

“The detention of former journalist Łarysa Ščyrakova in Belarus and the lack of information about the circumstances of the case are deeply worrying,” she tweeted on December 13.

Authorities accused Ščyrakova, a former journalist based in Homiel, of discrediting Belarus, her family told BPN on December 13. She may face up to four years in prison, if convicted.

Police arrested Ščyrakova on December 6 and took her 15-year-old son Sviatasłaŭ to the Homiel district social service center. She had stopped working as journalist in 2021, and was into ethnographic photography in the last few months before her arrest.

Belarus has at least 32 imprisoned reporters, says the Belarusian Association of Journalists, an independent NGO.