Journalist Hennadz Barbarych Fined For Material On “BelTA Case”

The court considered his case in absentia.

Radio Racyja correspondent Hennadz Barbarych was accused of “preparing material on the criminal case against Belarusian journalists for a foreign media without accreditation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” the website of the Belarusian Association of Journalists baj.by informs.

Hennadz Barbarych says that he went to his relatives to Brest on New Year's holidays. And after returning to Minsk, he learned that on January 3, the Partyzanski district court considered in absentia his case that had previously been sent for revision.

Hennadz Barbarych was found guilty of allegedly “violating the procedure for producing and distributing media products” (Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code) working without accreditation to foreign media.

The journalist was punished for preparing a material on charges against his colleagues in the so-called “BelTA Case”

In November, Hennadz Barbarych, interviewed the chief editor of the BelaPAN news agency, Iryna Leushyna, near the building of the Investigative Committee, the interview was posted on the Radio Racyja website.

After that, the police drew up a protocol against the journalist, in which they accused the reporter of preparing the video piece. However, in court it turned out that there had been no video on the site at all. The case was sent for revision, and on January 3, the journalist was fined 35 basic units (892.5 rubles).

Barbarych categorically disagrees with the decision of the court and is going to appeal against it.

Hennadz Barbarych is a famous Belarusian journalist. Previously, he worked in the BelaPAN information company, the Belarusians and the Market newspaper, is the winner of the Dzmitry Zavadski Prize.

According to the estimates of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, in 2018, journalists were fined at least 116 times on such accusations in Belarus, and the total amount of fines was 101,993.5 rubles.