Judge upholds four-year prison term for Rehijanalnaja Hazieta editor in chief

January 23, Pozirk. The Minsk Regional Court has rejected Alaksandar Mancevič’s appeal against the four-year prison sentence, the Viasna Human Rights Center reports.

In early November, Rehijanalnaja Hazieta’s editor in chief was convicted of discrediting the state. He was also fined 14,800 rubels (about $4,700).

The prosecutor accused him of “spreading deliberately false information in the newspaper and its online resources” from January 2020 to March 2023.

The journalist pleaded not guilty.

Rehijanalnaja Hazieta was the leading independent newspaper based in the Minsk region’s Maładziečna from 1995 to 2021 that covered developments in seven districts of the Minsk and Hrodna regions. Mancevič has won several journalism awards for his work.

In 2020, the newspaper covered postelection protests and police brutality against protesters in the region.

In 2022, authorities blacklisted Rehijanalnaja Hazieta’s website and social media as extremist content.

Police arrested Mancevič on March 15, 2023 after a raid on his home in Vilejka, Minsk region. Human rights groups consider him a political prisoner.

At least 34 media workers are held behind bars in Belarus, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.