Belarus Jails Radio Liberty Freelancer for Six Years for 'Extremism'

By Explorer -

(Reuters) - A court in Belarus sentenced a freelance journalist for the Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to six years in jail on extremism charges, the broadcaster and the Spring-96 human rights organisation said on Wednesday.

The trial of Andrey Kuznechik, who was arrested last November, was closed to the public. He was accused of creating an extremist group. The prosecution has not disclosed the details of the charges and it is not known how he pleaded in court.

Calls to the court went unanswered.

Belarus has labelled U.S.-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other independent media outlets extremist organisations. Some opposition-minded media have been labelled terrorist organisations.

In a statement, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, president and CEO Jamie Fly said: "Andrey has been sentenced on ludicrous charges in a closed-door trial, which was over in a few hours.

Political Cartoons on World Leaders

"It is telling that the charges against him only surfaced in late May, more than six months after he was first arrested. We demand Andrey's immediate release."

Belarus has cracked down hard on dissent since summer 2020, when huge anti-government protests erupted.

Human rights workers say more than 1,200 political prisoners are being held in custody, including around 30 journalists.

 

Source: Belarus Jails Radio Liberty Freelancer for Six Years for 'Extremism' | World News | US News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters

By Explorer -
Image
Massive public protests taking place in Hong Kong over the past week are aimed at a new extradition law, known as the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance , that would see accused criminals extradited to mainland China to face prosecution. Hongkongers feel the law could be used to legalise the kidnapping of people who express views, and act in ways, that are not popular with the Chinese government . The same law could also be used to extradite tourists and visitors to China who are arrested on suspicion of having committed these crimes. Protesters want the bill scrapped. For now, debate of the legislation has been postponed . Organisers say one million people turned out for the protests, while police estimate the number was around 240,000. Either way, it was a significant number of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million population. Commentators on Twitter remarked on how well organised the protesters were. So, how did they do it? Protesters across the world are using n
Read more

‘Not Hospital, Al-Shifa is Hamas Hideout & HQ in Gaza’: Israel Releases ‘Terrorists’ Confessions’ | Exclusive

By Explorer -
 According to a video of interrogation of "Hamas terrorists" released by Israel Security Agency Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18, "The Shifa hospital has been made with many considerations as Hamas knew that medical places won’t be attacked by the enemy. Equipment, explosives and other material has been kept there." Hamas is using hospitals in Gaza as covers and have turned them into ammunition depots, according to a video of interrogation of “Hamas terrorists" released by  Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet, accessed exclusively by News18. ALSO READ | Israel-Hamas War LIVE Updates  HERE The Israeli military has claimed that those featuring in the video released on Saturday are Hamas terrorists, who participated in the  October 7 attack  on Israel. “Most of the tunnels are hidden in hospitals. There are multiple underground levels. Al-Shifa Hospital is not small, it is a big place that can be used to hide things," a man is seen saying. “The Al-Shifa
Read more

Islam Has Massacred Over 669+ Million Non-Muslims Since 622AD

By Explorer -
Image
In fact, no ideology has been as genocidal as Islam… Islam has killed more than 5 times the number of people killed by communism. In the total numbers we have updated over 80 million Christians killed by Muslims in 500 years in the Balkan states, Hungary, Ukraine, Russia. Then we have India. The official estimate number of Muslim slaughters of Hindus is 80 million. However, Muslim historian Firistha (b. 1570) wrote (in either Tarikh-i Firishta or  the Gulshan-i Ibrahim) that Muslims slaughtered over 400 million Hindus up to the peak of Islamic rule of India, bringing the Hindu population down from 600 mil to 200 million at the time. With these new additions the Muslim genocide of non-Muslims since the birth of Mohammed would be  over 669 million murders. Islam: The Religion of Genocide Perspective:   Think the Spanish inquisition was bad? More people are killed by Islamists each year than in all 350 years of the Spanish Inquisition* combined. The Spanish inquisition ( Tribunal del Sant
Read more