29 March 2024, Friday, 13:26
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"Freedom Of Speech Is Something You Do Not Have To Ask Permission For"

"Freedom Of Speech Is Something You Do Not Have To Ask Permission For"
KANSTANTSIN ZHUKOUSKI
PHOTO: RADIO SVABODA

The Homel journalist will appeal against the unfair maximum penalty.

According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, freelance journalist Kanstantsin Zhukouski from Homel will appeal to the regional court against the ruling of Homel region judge Tamara Zastaunetskaya on the punishment under Article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.

The court punished the journalist with the maximum administrative fine – 1,225 rubles – for alleged illegal production of media products.

On May 11, judge Zastaunetskaya sentenced Zhukouski in absentia to a large fine. The court's decision states the following: "on March 19, Zhukouski was in the village of Rudnia, Homel region, where he produced and then distributed on the satellite channel Belsat a news story entitled "Village Armageddon: Cows Are Dying, Spoiled Milk Is Being Issued To Workers."

Zhukouski believes that the police, and then the courts, punish freelancers for not embellishing the situation, but reflecting "the real situation of people in small towns, villages and remote regional centers, not often visited by official state propagandists, in order not to spoil the general image of the Belarusian "prosperity and stability."

The regional lawyer of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, Leanid Sudalenka, who helps Zhukouski to appeal against the decision on the administrative fine, states that the state’s attempts to divide information into "lawful" and "unlawful" are illegal.

"Freedom of speech and dissemination of information is something that you do not have to ask permission for from the state, they are guaranteed by the Constitution and international agreements that Belarus has ratified," – Leanid Sudalenka commented.

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