Journalist summoned to court in Babruisk

A case against BAJ member Maryna Mauchanva was submitted to a court.

As charter97.org learnt from the press service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), the journalist is charged with working for foreign media without accreditation. Maryna Mauchanava, a journalist of Bobruiski Kuryer newspaper, is charged with violating article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offences (illegal production or distribution products of mass media).

The ground for the charge was her article published on the website of Belsat TV channel in August 2014. An administrative case was opened against Mauchanava on September 4. The journalist's visit to a local police station ended with a conflict. Police officer Siarhei Rudzko allowed her to make extracts from the case, but later used physical force to snatch the notes out of her hands.

The trial in Babruisk is scheduled for September 18, 15:00.

Charging journalists for working for foreign media without accreditation has become a trend in Belarus.

The police have opened administrative cases in recent months against seven journalists for violating the law on the media and working without accreditation.

International journalist organisations call on the Belarusian authorities to cancel the anachronistic procedure of accreditation that violates the right to access to information. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, emphasised during her official visit to Minsk on September 15-16 that mandatory accreditation of journalists should be cancelled.