Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Belarusian Journalists Sentenced to 3-Day Jail Terms Amid Crackdown on
Post-Election Protests

RFE/RL's Belarus Service

   MINSK - Six Belarusian journalists detained earlier this week while
   covering an anti-government protest in Minsk were sentenced to three
   days in jail, as authorities continued their crackdown on dissent and
   media freedom following a disputed election that gave President
   Alexander Lukashenko a sixth-straight term.
   The verdicts came just ahead of a scheduled address by Sviatlana
   Tsikhanouskaya, the self-exiled presidential candidate who has become a
   leader of the Belarusian opposition, to the U.N. Security Council later
   on September 4.
   The journalists were covering a student rally demanding the resignation
   of Lukashenko on September 1 when they were [1]detained by police near
   the Dinamo district stadium.
   A district court in the capital sentenced the journalists to three
   days' administrative arrest after finding them guilty of participating
   in an illegal rally, an accusation they denied.
   They were later released having already served their terms while in
   pretrial detention.
   The reporters work for the Belarusian independent news website Tut.by,
   the local Komsomolskaya Pravda v Belarusi daily, and the independent
   news agency BelaPAN.
   Hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets across
   Belarus to protest the "rigged" results of the August 9 vote.

References

   1. https://bit.ly/2QUR5kt

.