Case for “working without accreditation” opened against independent journalist

Journalists continue to suffer harassment in Belarus despite a visit of an OSCE representative.

According to the police, an administrative case was opened against Vital Siamashka for violating article 22.9 (working for foreign media without accreditation).

The police also informed the journalist that the case was closed after the statute of limitation (2 months) had expired.

The journalist is confident that the KGB department for the Hrodna region stands behind the incident. Vital Siamashka says KGB officers began to monitor the website of Radio Racyia trying to bring journalists to account.

A similar case was opened this May against another Hrodna-based journalist, Andrei Mialeshka. The police questioned the people mentioned in his article and made a police report.

“The same happened to me. A KGB officers visited the people I mentioned in my article. He ordered them to say my name and give details about my work,” Vital Siamashka told the press service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).

Charging journalists with alleged working for foreign media without accreditation has become a trend in Belarus.

The police have opened administrative cases in recent months against seven journalists for violating the law on the media and working without accreditation.

International journalist organisations call on the Belarusian authorities to cancel the anachronistic procedure of accreditation that violates the right to access to information. The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic, emphasised during her official visit to Minsk on September 15-16 that mandatory accreditation of journalists should be cancelled.