Hantsavitski Chas Journalist Died After Call For Police Interrogation

Her two minor children were left without their mother.

On September 17, Sviatlana Malyshka, a journalist at the independent online news outlet Hantsavitski Chas, passed away. She would have turned 45 in November, Belsat reports.

Sviatlana started her work with the Hantsavitski Chas newspaper in 2003. During this period, she wrote more than 1,300 articles.

As colleagues note, Sviatlana’s work sometimes caused “dissatisfaction and a certain pressure,” since social issues that ‘excited some people’ were among the topics she paid attention to.

Such a resonance was caused by one of her recent articles on the website named “Hantsavichy Town Center Has Gone Bald Just Before Dazhynki.”

“Real facts have caused dissatisfaction with the local authorities. The police came to Sviatlana and called her “for a conversation.” Honestly, it’s annoying to see their reaction to any critical remark like this. People in uniform run like following ‘Take Her’ order. It is unlikely that the police officers came to Sviatlana Malyshka on their own initiative since there was not a single word in the article other than the truth. There were no legal grounds for calling her “for a conversation” either. This is a fact,” the publication writes.

Sviatlana had an unpleasant conversation with the Chairman of the District Executive Committee, who brought the journalist to tears. Also, one of the state newspapers published a “response” to her article. She took these words to heart.

“Did these challenges affect Sviatlana Malyshka’s health? Definitely. Although she tried to keep all her experiences secret. Recently she could not hide her nervousness because of these conversations,” write the journalist’s colleagues.

All the stress that Sviatlana Malyshka experienced after being persecuted for the articles she wrote caused her worsened health - the journalist was taken to the hospital, but the doctors were unable to save her life.

Her two minor children were left without their mother.