Committee to Protect Journalists slams journalist couple sentence

January 16, BPN. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based non-profit, condemned the sentencing of Belarusian reporters Śniažana Inaniec and Alaksandr Łyčaŭka.

“While it is a relief that Belarusian journalists Śniažana Inaniec and Alaksandr Łyčaŭka will not be held in the country’s notorious prisons, their sentencing to years under house arrest is still a great injustice,” the CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator Gulnoza Said said, as quoted on the committee’s website on January 13. She stressed that “authorities should lift the restrictions imposed on the journalists, drop all charges against them, and let all members of the press work freely.”

A court in Minsk sentenced journalists Inaniec and Łyčaŭka to two and three years of restricted freedom respectively, a type of home confinement, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported on January 13. They were charged with organization of/active participation in group actions grossly disturbing public order. The husband and wife reporters were freed in the courtroom. They had been arrested in October 2022. Łyčaŭka, a local history enthusiast, cooperated with The Village. Inaniec, a former Tut.by journalist, worked at Onliner.by.

Belarus keeps at least 31 journalists behind bars, the BAJ said.