Journalist Is To Be Tried For Writing About Demolition Of Houses In Homel

A protocol has been drawn up against Homel freelance journalist Larysa Shchyrakova for "illigal manufacturing of media products".

This refers to the cooperation without accreditation of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry with the Polish satellite television channel Belsat.

"This was reported to me by phone from the Savietski district police department," – Larysa Shchyrakova told the Monitoring Service of the BAJ. – I haven’t seen the protocol yet. We only know that the policemen have drawn up a protocol for the video story about the intention of the authorities to demolish more than fifty private houses in Homel within the borders of Bogdan Khmelnitsky Street – Rechytski and Chkalau Avenues. This intention of the authorities aroused indignation among a lot of local residents. On June 10, the district administration heads and the city's architecture department were to meet the townspeople. I made a video about that and placed it on the platform of the video hosting company Youtube, some pieces of it were used by the television channel Belsat used in the story: "Officials Allowed To Build Houses, And Now They Want To Demolish Them."

The police warned Shchyrakova that the protocol would be sent to the court. This year, this is not the first administrative case that the police have initiated against the independent journalist

Three times the journalist has been fined for manufacturing media products illegally. Another protocol has been drawn up for participation in an unauthorized mass event in Rahachou, where Shchyrakova covered a mass protest against the Decree No. 3 on "parasitism".

The total amount of fines amounted to 2,576 rubles.

Shchiryakova has been imposed two more fines for the absence of registration of her dog and for the sand, unloaded beside her private house in the street.