Amnesty International Demands The Release Of Journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva

Human rights activists called her trial a sham.

Regional Director Eastern Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International Marie Struthers commented on reports that the Belarusian court has sentenced Belsat TV journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva to eight years in prison on a fabricated accusation of 'high treason':

“Aliaksandr Lukashenka's repressive apparatus continues its attempts to wipe out journalists and activists. Each day brings new terrible and wrong unjustified sentences. Today Katsiaryna Andreeva, already serving an unfair sentence of two years in prison, was given another eight years in prison for her courageous work as a journalist following a politically motivated fictitious trial.

“Katsiaryna Andreeva and all other people who criticize the Belarusian authorities were detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of speech. They must be released immediately and unconditionally with all charges dropped,” Struthers added.

On July 13, 2022, the Homiel Regional Court, after a short week-long trial, sentenced Belsat TV journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva to eight years in prison. She was accused of 'high treason' without any further details or evidence presented to support the charge. The Belarusian authorities regularly block any information about criminal cases against their critics under the threat of criminal prosecution for any disclosure.

On February 18, 2021, the court in Minsk found Andreeva and her colleague on the TV channel Darya Chultsova guilty of "organizing actions that grossly violate public order" (Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). Charges against them were brought for the live broadcast of a peaceful protest on November 15, 2020. Both journalists were sentenced to two years in prison, their sentences expiring in September 2022. Andreeva will have to serve a new prison term from that moment on.