Belarus Jails Two Journalists for Reporting Protests Against President

Two journalists working for the Polish-funded Belsat TV in Belarus received a two year jail sentence for reporting protests over the death of a demonstrator.

Roman Bondarenko died in a hospital in November after what protesters said was a severe beating by security forces. Another journalist is going on trial for contradicting a government report stating that Bondarenko was drunk at the time of his death.

The court in the capital of Minsk handed down the sentences against Katsiaryna Bakhvalava, 27, who goes by the name Andreyeva, and Daria Chultsova, 23, who were arrested in November.

Police broke down the door of an apartment in Minsk from which they were doing a live stream of a protest and charged them with “organizing actions rudely violating public order”.

Addressing the court before the verdict, Bakhvalava vowed to continue working for “building a Belarus that won't have political repressions”.

“I'm not pleading. I'm demanding acquittal for me and my colleagues”, she said in a reference to other Belarusian journalists who have been put into custody.

There have been more than 400 detentions of journalists in Belarus over the last six months. At least 10 of them have faced criminal charges and remain in custody, the Associated Press said.

“We consider the sentence politically motivated, its goal is to scare all journalists to prevent them from fulfilling their professional duty to cover socially important events in the country”, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said. “That effectively amounts to a professional ban.”

International Federation of Journalists' President, Younes Mjahed called the ruling “shameful and totally unfounded”.

He added:"Today’s verdict is a clear attack on press freedom and we all stand together against this mockery of justice.” Lukashenko has withstood months of protests over what demonstrators call a rigged re-election.

Human rights advocates said more than 33,000 people have been detained since the protests began, and thousands brutally beaten.

Both women pleaded not guilty. They appeared in a cage at the ruling,, hugging and making “V” for victory signs. Their lawyer said they would appeal the verdict, fruitless in a country controlled by Lukashenko, referred to as Europe's Last Dictator.

“Just look at Darya and Katsiaryna – strong, smiling, and saying goodbyes to their loved ones through bars. Lukashenka can’t break us”, exiled opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya wrote on Twitter.

In neighboring Lithuania, where Tsikhanouskaya is based, she urged an end to a “spiral of repression”, and Poland said the ruling would call for “very serious consequences” without specifying what they would be.

“Every time I went to work, I risked my health and life,” Andreyeva had said in a statement earlier. “I managed to hide from rubber bullets, explosions of stun grenades, blows from truncheons. My colleagues were much less fortunate.”

She added that, “I have everything: youth, a job that I love, fame and, most importantly, a clear conscience.”

The U.S. Embassy in Belarus called for their release and urged Belarusian authorities to stop prosecuting journalists for doing their jobs. The European Union’s foreign affairs spokesman Peter Stano condemned the “shameful crackdown on media”.