2010-02-05

Belarusian journalist arrested for 10 days

The BAJ Press-service

Ivan Shulha was detained on 3 February, during the incident when the police tried to enter a flat, rented by an official representative of Belsat TV Channel in Minsk Mihas Yanchuk.

Ivan was leaving the flat, when he saw the police coming and managed to call his colleagues from outside the building using an entrance door intercom. He warned them that the police were coming to the building. After that Ivan was detained.

His colleagues and representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists were trying to find out where he was, they called all the police stations in Minsk, but could not find any information about Ivan’s location. On 4 February, it became known that the journalist spent the night in the Detention Centre at Akrestsina Lane, and was brought to Court of Savetski District of the City of Minsk.

The court hearings started around 12.30, and at first journalists were not allowed in. Only after a break three reporters, including a representative of the BAJ Press Service, were allowed to be present at the hearings.

About 16.30 on Thursday judge Aksana Reliava voiced her decision to sentence Ivan Shulha to 10 days of administrative arrest for minor hooliganism. «Detaining and charging journalists with administrative infringements is a usual practice in Belarus," Deputy Chairman of BAJ Andrei Bastunets said after the sentence to Ivan Shulha was announced.

«Such cases do not increase the level of trust to the police and court system. Yesterday, when we spoke to police officers in the flat, they told us Ivan Shulha was suspected to be drunken in a public place and to tear a chevron off the uniform of one of the police officers. But today at the court they talked about a broken leg of one of the officers. These facts alert about further development of the satiation. BAJ will follow the story of our colleague and will provide him with all the necessary support.»