Photographer Ziankoŭ sentenced to three years in prison

January 30, Pozirk. A Minsk City Court judge has imposed a three-year prison sentence on Alaksandar Ziankoŭ, a Barysaŭ-based photographer and freelance journalist.

Judge Žanna Brysina found him guilty of association with an extremist group, a charge widely used by authorities to punish journalists for their past work for media outlets declared extremist in the wake of the 2020 postelection protests.

Ziankoŭ was arrested on June 22 as police raided his home in Barysaŭ.

He was held in an overcrowded cell for 10 days at the detention center on Akrescina Street in Minsk, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported citing an inmate who was held together with him.

The journalist refused to plead guilty and would not disclose the password to his smartphone to the investigators, the source said.

On December 23, Belarusian human rights groups declared Ziankoŭ a political prisoner.

Investigators found footage in his computer that was allegedly used by a media outlet deemed extremist, according to the source. The journalist declined services of a lawyer provided by the state.