Belarus / Europe & Central Asia

Kiev, July 17, 2018–A Minsk court today found Belarusian journalist Dzmitry Halko guilty of assaulting a police officer, sentenced him to four years’ labor at a low-security prison colony, and ordered him to pay restitution of 850 Belarusian rubles (US$430) to the officer, according to Halko’s wife, Julia Garkusha, and media reports. Halko was released…

Kiev, July 6, 2018–Belarusian authorities should immediately release journalist Dzmitry Halko and drop all the charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Halko, also known as Dmitry Galko, is scheduled to be tried by a Minsk court on July 10 on charges of assaulting a police officer at his Minsk apartment last…

Kiev, June 8, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Belarusian parliament to reject proposed laws that could further censor the media in the country. The Prosecutor General’s Office is drafting a bill on “fake news,” and the lower house of parliament separately is considering amendments to the media law.

Four Belarussian police officers on February 18, 2018, attacked Andrus (Andrey) Kozel, a cameraperson for the independent TV station Belsat, while he was live streaming to Facebook from inside a polling station in central Minsk, media reported.

New York, February 1, 2018– The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Belarusian Ministry of Information to unblock access to the independent news website Charter 97. Natalya Radina, the site’s editor-in-chief, told CPJ today that access to the site has been blocked in Belarus since January 24, and that from today, the web…

A year after prominent journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed by a car bomb in Kiev, no one has been arrested or prosecuted, even though Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed a swift investigation. Authorities say Russia is the prime suspect, but the lack of progress in the case, coupled with evidence pointing to possible Ukrainian involvement,…

About This Report

Ukraine must prove its commitment to credibly investigating Sheremet’s murder Pavel Sheremet was a journalist of rare caliber, one whose reporting exemplified the best practices in the countries he covered: Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Despite threats and attacks during his career, Sheremet was not afraid to take on authorities. It was for this reason that…

Tough reporting earned Sheremet enemies in three countries KIEV — Olena Prytula was sleeping so deeply that her mind would not be fully alerted to the real-life nightmare unfolding outside her door until she came face to face with it.

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