(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Guenadi Vorontsov, RSF protested the sentencing of Valery Schukin, journalist for the publications “Tovarisch” and “Narodnaja Volja”, to three months’ imprisonment. “The sentencing of a journalist to a prison term for ‘vandalism’ befits the Soviet era,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask that you […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Justice Guenadi Vorontsov, RSF protested the sentencing of Valery Schukin, journalist for the publications “Tovarisch” and “Narodnaja Volja”, to three months’ imprisonment. “The sentencing of a journalist to a prison term for ‘vandalism’ befits the Soviet era,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. “We ask that you release Valery Schukin without delay,” added Ménard.
According to information received by RSF, Schukin has been incarcerated in a Minsk prison since 12 June 2001. On 15 March, the journalist, who is also a member of parliament, was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for “vandalism”, in accordance with Article 339/1 of the Penal Code, for having tried to enter, without permission, a press conference held by Minister of the Interior M. Naumov in late 2000. The subject of the press conference was the disappearance of opposition figures in Belarus. Schukin had unsuccesfully sought permission to attend the press conference several hours before it was scheduled to take place. The journalist stated that he tried to go to the press conference anyway by presenting his Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) membership card, but police officers barred him from entering, beat him and brutally threw him to the floor. In his fall, Schukin broke the picture window of a door and was injured by broken glass.
Since the pronouncement of the verdict against him on 15 March, the journalist has repeatedly sought to appeal his sentence with higher judicial bodies, but his efforts have failed.
