Supreme Court rejects appeal by former state journalist

May 23, BPN. The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Dźmitryj Siemčanka, a former journalist with the state-run ONT TV channel, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported.

Judge Alaksiej Rybakoŭ reportedly found no reason to review the sentence and upheld the three-year prison sentence.

Siemčanka was one of the dozens of journalists who resigned from state-run media outlets in 2020 in protest against police violence after the August 2020 presidential election. He later pursued a career in public relations at Biełahra, an agricultural equipment distribution company. In late September 2022, police raided its Minsk office, arresting 20 employees.

The former journalist was taken into custody on charges of inciting hatred by his posts in Telegram channels and chats from 2020 to 2022.

Human rights groups consider him a political prisoner.