Homel journalists fined for “participating in picket”

Journalist from Homel Larysa Shchyrakova and Kanstantsin Zhukouski were found guilty of committing an offence.

They were fined 900,000 rubles each. The decision of the Svetlahorsk district court was sent to the journalist by mail on January 28, BelaPAN reports.

The picket was held by disabled activist Yury Liashenka in the central square of Svetlahorsk on November 25. He tried to raise public awareness about violations of the rights of disabled people.

Liashenka's picket was disrupted by paramedics, who took the activist to hospital. The activist was later fined.

Journalists Larysa Shchyrakova and Kanstantsin Zhukouski were watching the picket. They were questioned by the police later. Both were charged with participating in an unauthorised picket.

According to the court, Zhukouski and Shchyrakova “intentionally helped Liashenka, namely provided physical help to the disabled person, filmed the picket, were together in the place not designed for pickets”.

The court says the proof of Shchyrakova's participation in the picket was that she “gave Liashenka a poster reading 'Stop outrage', 'was holding a microphone in her hands', 'showed Zhukouski a place for filming', 'came to Liashenka and connected the microphone to the camera'. It means that the actions were “concerted”, according to the court.

“It is revenge for my professional activity. Yury Liashenka was deprived of his constitutional right to expression. Paramedics disrupted his picket, but we filmed it and showed it to the public. The authorities of Svetlahorsk send picketers to the place that does not exist. If we reveal and show these violations, they punish us to scare other people,” Larysa Shcyrakova says.