Russian human rights activist jailed over Viasna trial coverage

January 7, BPN. The Viasna Human Rights Center reports that law enforcers arrested Yekaterina Yanshina, a Russian journalist linked to the Memorial human rights organization, when she was leaving a courtroom in Minsk on January 5.

She is suspected of contempt of court in connection with her coverage of that day’s hearing of the Viasna case. She reportedly took pictures in the courtroom.

“The human rights activist was held overnight at the city’s detention center. In the morning, she was tried and sentenced to 15 days in jail for disorderly conduct,” the center said.

On January 5, a district court in Minsk began hearing the criminal case against Viasna’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning chairman Aleś Bialacki, his deputy Valancin Stefanovič and coordinator of the Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections campaign Uładzimir Łabkovič.

They were arrested on July 14, 2021 on charges of tax evasion.

The charges were dropped last September only to be followed by accusations of smuggling and financing protests.

On October 7, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to Bialacki, Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties.