29 March 2024, Friday, 11:06
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Homel Journalist Fined Br7 Million For “Working Without Accreditation”

A freelance journalist was charged with illegal manufacturing and dissemination of media products.

An independent journalist from Homel Kanstantsin Zhukouski was fined Br7 million 350 thousand (35 basic units) by the court of Kalinkavichy district for a video that was on air of Belsat TV channel.

The freelance journalist was charged with illegal manufacturing and dissemination of media products (Article 22.9 Part 2 of the Administrative Code), in fact, with working for foreign media without accreditation, Belsat reports.

The grounds for initiating the case were the video item about beating of a young man from Zhytkavichy by Kalinkavichy football fans.

Kanstantsin Zhukouski was not able to arrive to Kalinkavichy court on January 14, as he received SMS information about the trial only the day before. In absence of the journalist Judge Liudmila Savostyanova passed a verdict – to punish the freelancer by a fine of Br7 million 350 thousand (35 basic units). Kanstantsin Zhukouski received the court decision on January 18 by mail.

“The verdict is not unexpected – the authorities have made the country bankrupt, and are trying to postpone the last struggle, and I and my colleagues (the entire Belsat in general) are showing what is going on in the reality, and not what the authorities want to hear,” – the freelance jouranalist noted.

Kanstantsin Zhukouski is going to challenge the ruling of the court at the UN.

Earlier on Christmas day the journalist was taken to a police department for a report to be drawn up.

On January 20 the journalist is summoned for another trial to Karma. Kanstantsin Zhukouski is charged with illegal manufacturing of media products as well (Article 22.9 Part 2 of the Administrative Code). The freelancer created a video how people stayed without water for a long time because of a water pipe-line accident.

Policemen from the town of Vetka drew up a report against the journalist under the same article.

Last year Zhukouski stood trial 6 times for his professional activities, the fines to him were Br31.5 million in total.

This year the court fined a Homel-based journalist Larysa Shchyrakova Br4 million 620 thousand (22 basic units) for allegedly illegal making of media products.

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