Ranak TV journalists accused of forming extremist group

December 14, Pozirk. Investigators have accused two Svietłahorsk-based journalists of forming an extremist group, the interior ministry’s press office reported.

Another “53-year-old” journalist managed to leave Belarus, the press office said in apparent reference to Andrej Lipski of Ranak TV.

The interior ministry did not say what media the arrested female journalists worked for, but the context suggests that they referred to Julija Dauletava and Ludmila Andenka of Ranak TV, a private media company that used to operate in Śvietłahorsk, Homiel region, and was declared an extremist group in September.

Dauletava and Andenka were reportedly detained last week.

In a video posted by the interior ministry’s press office, a police spokesman says that in 2020 the two journalists created and administered a group in the Telegram messaging app that shared information about postelection protests that threatened “the foundations of the constitutional order in the country.” The video features footage of the journalists’ interrogation.

Police have persecuted the local TV station after it covered the June 7 explosion at the local pulp and cardboard mill that killed several people. Eight Ranak TV staff were arrested and jailed in June for allegedly sharing opposition content, while the station’s website and social media accounts were branded extremist content.

After the 2020 mass protests against vote rigging in the presidential election, the Belarusian authorities equated independent journalism, advocacy and solidarity with extremism and terrorism.