Rehijanalnaya Gazeta Editor-In-Chief Under Trial In Maladechna

Aliaksandr Mantsevich faces up to 4 years in prison.

The trial of the editor-in-chief of the local independent Rehijanalnaya Gazeta Aliaksandr Mantsevich has begun in the Maladechna district court. The man is accused of disseminating deliberately false information that discredits Belarus and its authorities, the Viasna human rights center reports.

The editor is charged with Article 369−1 of the Criminal Code (“Discrediting the Republic of Belarus”) and faces up to 4 years in prison. Judge Aliaksei Irshyn will handle the case.

The founder of the newspaper, which was the leading independent publication in the region before it was destroyed by the law-enforcement agencies in 2021, was detained in the morning of March 15 in Vileika. His house was searched.