DUBAI: A Belarusian court convicted a journalist for Polish broadcaster Belsat TV to five years in jail on Wednesday, a verdict Warsaw described as unacceptable and one that it would respond to.
Iryna Slaunikava, the journalist, was found guilty of setting up an extremist group and organizing mass unrest, the latest of scores to be jailed under such charges during a crackdown that has rumbled on since a spate of protests in 2020.
Slaunikava was arrested in October at an airport as she returned from a holiday. Most of her trial was held behind closed doors, but she could be seen in a cage for the defendant when the verdict was handed down.
Belsat is a Polish broadcaster focused on Belarusian news that Minsk has branded as extremist.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described her jailing as an “absolute scandal, a violation of all civilization norms, human rights and journalistic standards.”
“This unacceptable verdict will meet with Poland’s immediate, decisive reaction at an international level,” he wrote on Facebook.
Last month, a Belarusian court sentenced another Belsat journalist to eight years in jail for treason.
The Belarusian Vesna-96 rights group estimates Belarus is holding about 1,300 political prisoners.
Many of them were arrested during a wave of protests against President Alexander Lukashenko who has been in power since 1994.
Belarus jails journalist for Polish broadcaster; Warsaw vows response
https://arab.news/g9g8q
Belarus jails journalist for Polish broadcaster; Warsaw vows response
- Iryna Slaunikava, the journalist, was found guilty of setting up an extremist group and organising mass unrest
- Most of her trial was held behind closed doors
Detained French journalist faces deportation from Turkiye
- Raphael Boukandoura, arrested while covering a pro-Kurdish protest in Istanbul is facing the threat of deportation
ISTANBUL: A French journalist arrested while covering a pro-Kurdish protest in Istanbul is facing the threat of deportation from Turkiye and was transferred to a migrant detention center on Wednesday, his lawyer told AFP.
Raphael Boukandoura, who works for various French publications including Liberation and Courrier International was detained late Monday at a protest over a military operation targeting Kurdish fighters in northern Syria.
Boukandoura, 35, has lived legally in Turkiye for at least a decade and holds an official press card.
The journalist was transferred to a detention center for migrants, his lawyer Emine Ozhasar told AFP.
“The file is being registered,” she said, adding that there was no decision made yet and that it might be postponed until Thursday.
Asked if Boukandoura may be deported, the lawyer said: “It’s a possibility.”
The detention sparked fury from the French foreign ministry as well as rights groups.
In a statement to AFP on Tuesday, the French foreign ministry said it hoped Boukandoura would be “freed as quickly as possible,” indicating its diplomats in Turkiye were “closely monitoring the situation.”
At the protest, called by the pro-Kurdish party DEM, party officials called for “an immediate halt to the attacks” and the protection of civilians in northeastern Syria.
Police broke up the protest, arresting 10 people, including Boukandoura.
Two weeks ago, Syrian government troops launched an offensive against Kurdish-led forces — an operation publicly welcomed by Turkiye, despite its own efforts to pursue a peace process with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
According to the rights group MLSA, Boukandoura told police he was present strictly as a journalist and covering the protest for the daily Liberation.
During questioning, police also asked Boukandoura about slogans allegedly chanted during the protest.
He said, according to the MLSA, that he did not chant any slogans and was at the scene solely to report.
Erol Onderoglu of media-rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the French journalist facing the risk of expulsion was “unacceptable.”
“It is intended to intimidate journalists covering pro-Kurdish protests in Turkiye,” he told AFP.
Liberation, along with Courrier International, Mediapart and Ouest-France — other outlets that have published Boukandoura’s work — all issued statements calling for his immediate release.
