(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested a 10-day prison sentence handed down on 4 March 2005 by a court in the city of Grodno (near the Polish border), to journalist Andrei Pochobut. Pochobut was accused of “participating in an unauthorised demonstration” by small business owners, which he had gone to cover for the Pahonia online news […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has protested a 10-day prison sentence handed down on 4 March 2005 by a court in the city of Grodno (near the Polish border), to journalist Andrei Pochobut. Pochobut was accused of “participating in an unauthorised demonstration” by small business owners, which he had gone to cover for the Pahonia online news site (http://www.pahonia.promedia.by). Pochobut also writes for “Den”, an independent weekly.
“We are outraged by this sentence, especially as Pochobut produced evidence that he was working as a journalist when he was arrested, and because it violates Article 39 (on the right to cover public meetings as a journalist) and Article 48 (on the freedom to inform the public) of Belarus’s press law,” RSF said.
“In a country in which the independent media suffer constant harassment by authorities, this sentence testifies to a continuing deterioration in respect for press freedom,” the organisation added.
Around 1,000 small business owners took part in the demonstration on 3 March in Grodno’s Lenin Square to protest against a rise in the value added tax (VAT) and to demand a meeting with the region’s governor.
After the demonstration, Vladimir Sachevsky, head of the internal affairs department for Grodno’s Leninski district, asked Pochobut to make a statement about a car accident he had witnessed. Instead, Pochobut was arrested on a charge of participating in an unauthorised demonstration and was placed in custody at the Leninski police station. Sachevsky told the journalist that he was “creating tension” because of his journalistic work.
During the 4 March trial in the Leninski court, police officers Piotr Lienec and Andrei Hatau, who were at the demonstration, said Pochobut had indeed been covering it and that he had taken photos of the demonstrators. But after viewing footage of the demonstration, Judge Natalia Koziel said Pochobut should have covered the proceedings from “outside of the crowd.”
The press was not allowed to attend the trial, but some journalists were able to enter the courtroom when Pochobut’s lawyer, Aliksander Birylau, delivered his summation. Upon being found guilty under Article 167-1 of the Administrative Code, the journalist was immediately transferred to the Leninski district prison.
