Trial in the case of Belarusian investigative journalist Denis Ivashin started on Monday, August 15th in Grodno. The trial is being held behind closed doors due to the consideration of “state secrets”. Denis is accused of “interference in the activities of police” and “treason against the state”. The maximum sanction provided for in the second article is up to 15 years in prison. The Belarusian KGB also claimed that the journalist allegedly collaborated with Ukrainian intelligence.

This is not the first accusation of betrayal by Belarusian journalists. On July 13, the Gomel Regional Court sentenced him to 8 years in prison. Belasat journalist Katerina Andreeva, an article on treason against the state was also presented to media manager Andrei Aleksandrov. People close to Denis Ivashin consider the accusations against the journalist absurd, but do not expect an acquittal.

AT THE What exactly is Ivashin accused of?

denis Ivashin was detained on March 12, 2021 at his apartment in Grodno. Initially, he was suspected of “interference in the activities of an employee of the Internal Affairs bodies” (Article 365 of the Penal Code). In September, the political prisoner was charged with a new charge “for a particularly serious crime”, later it was learned that it was “treason against the State” (part 1 of article 356 of the Penal Code).

22 In March 2022, the KGB claimed that the journalist worked for Ukraine’s special services and harmed Belarus’s national security. The agency also claimed that the Ukrainian project InformNapalm, in which Ivashin was the editor of the Belarusian page, was created and operates “in the interest of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine”. According to the Belarusian special services, Ivashin’s actions “went far beyond the structure of journalistic work”.

denis Ivashin, for his part, repeatedly emphasized that he conducted his investigations within the law and used only open sources of information. The journalist is known in Belarus for investigations into the construction of a restaurant near the site of the mass executions of Stalinists in Kurapaty, into joint exercises by the Belarusian National Guard and security forces, as well as into the possible participation of former officials. of the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine “Berkut” in the dispersal of peaceful protests in Belarus in 2020.

Cause prison – an investigation into “ex-berkut” in the Republic of Belarus?

Ivashin I found that more than ten “ex-Berkut” soldiers serve in the Belarusian OMON, who were granted Belarusian citizenship and were recruited into the police force against the law. He also published extracts from administrative process protocols and questionnaires during the trials of political activists, where “Berkut” members act as witnesses.

Coming soon Before the arrest, the journalist said he was working on the next part of the investigation. Oksana Kolb, editor-in-chief of the Belarusian newspaper Novy Chas, which published Ivashin’s materials, believes this may be the reason for his arrest.

“We spoke to Denis a few days before his arrest, he said he found a lot of material (he collected it from open sources, he didn’t get into any secrets), he analyzed it, Kolb recalls. – Maybe we’d learn something new about what Berkut’s men are doing in Belarus. I suspect all these developments were pulled out during the search.”

“The authorities are trying to intimidate other journalists.”

Congressperson The president of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), Boris Haretsky, is also sure that Denis Ivashin’s arrest is linked to his professional activities and the latest investigation. As for the accusations of treason against the state, which are presented to Ivashin, Goretsky finds them completely untenable. In his opinion, this is how the authorities try to demoralize the person they are nominated for and intimidate other journalists.

“FROM with such a sentence, the prison regime is much stricter. Also, if you sit for a year and a half, your release is predictable, when you get a term of 7 to 15 years – that’s a serious test. I think the authorities also want to intimidate colleagues who see that publications can be “called” for such a period”, is convinced Goretsky.

oksana Kolb, for his part, notes that it is absurd to accuse a journalist of betraying the state, but this is a convenient article to “close” a person for a long time if he is dangerous to the authorities and propaganda.

“A lot of people told Denis to leave, but he wouldn’t, because he’s a patriot and, I would say, a sacrificial person. For him, what he does can be considered a vocation. And if it is necessary to sacrifice something, in this case, freedom, he will do it. He testifies to this both in the few letters that come to freedom, and in his behavior in prison”, adds the editor-in-chief of Novaga Chas.

threatened maximum possible deadline

“Denis is in a good mood despite everything that happens. He doesn’t care about the verdict, he knows the truth is behind him, that he hasn’t done anything wrong. Denis is more interested not in his trial, but in events at the front (in Ukraine – Red.). He believes that there is a solution to all the problems of Ukraine, Belarus and the whole region, and possibly even the world,” said journalist’s wife Olga Ivashina.

Olga and Denis Ivashin

Per According to the interlocutor, neither she nor her husband expect anything good from the court – Denis was threatened with the maximum possible penalty during his imprisonment. “Denis got scared more than once over a period of 15 years. We think every sentence has been written. We are tired and we just want it to end somehow. What can a journalist expect in the country of an authoritarian regime victorious? Definitely nothing good”, says Olga Ivashina

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