Supreme Court rejects jailed investigative reporter’s appeal

December 20, BPN. The Supreme Court upheld the guilty verdict against investigative journalist Dzianis Ivašyn, the Viasna Human Rights Center reported.

The Hrodna Regional Court sentenced him to 13 years and 1 month in prison at a closed-door session on September 14. It also ordered the journalist to pay a total of 22,800 rubels (about $8,795) in fines and damages to unnamed alleged victims.

The reporter, declared a political prisoner by human rights activists, was prosecuted for alleged meddling in police work and high treason.

Ivašyn was a volunteer editor at Ukraine’s InfromNapalm. He also cooperated with Belarus’ independent weekly Novy Čas.

He investigated Russian meddling in Belarus, construction at a Soviet-era massacre site, and the controversial recruitment of former Ukrainian riot police officers by Belarus.

Police arrested him in March 2021. Later that month, the Committee for the State Security (KGB) claimed that he worked for Ukraine’s secret services and caused damage to Belarus’ national security.

The journalist went on trial on August 15, behind closed doors, as some details of his case supposedly amounted to a state secret.

Ivašyn is one of at least 30 Belarusian media workers behind bars, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).