Swedish embassy calls for release of media manager Alaksandaraŭ

February 5, Pozirk. The Swedish embassy in Belarus has urged the Belarusian authorities to release media manager Andrej Alaksandraŭ.

“Solidarity is not a crime. Fundamental freedoms must be guaranteed,” the statement stressed.

Alaksandraŭ, a former BelaPAN deputy CEO, and his girlfriend Iryna Złobina were arrested on January 12, 2021. They married in September 2022 in custody and are allowed to keep in touch.

In October 2022, judge Viačasłaŭ Tulejka of the Minsk Regional Court sentenced Alaksandraŭ to 14 years in prison; Złobina, to nine years, on charges widely seen as politically motivated, including high treason, tax evasion and organizing actions grossly disturbing public order. Rights groups consider both political prisoners.

Alaksandraŭ is held at Penal Colony No 1 in Navapołack, Viciebsk region, and is currently working at the prison’s woodworking shop. A flu epidemic reportedly broke out there recently, with hundreds of inmates suffering from an acute respiratory viral infection.

The now-defunct BelaPAN media company that had employed Alaksandraŭ from 2014 to 2018 was branded an extremist group in Belarus in early November 2021.

Since then, authorities have blacklisted 24 media organizations and the Belarusian Association of Journalists as extremist groups.