Accessibility links

Breaking News

RFE/RL Reporter Fined For Covering Event In Belarus

Updated

Mikhal Karnevich
Mikhal Karnevich

HRODNA, Belarus -- An RFE/RL correspondent has been fined after a court ruled that he had violated legislation on public gatherings in Belarus.

The Lenin District Court in the western city of Hrodna ruled on November 25 that Mikhal Karnevich must pay the equivalent of $205 as a fine for taking part in an unsanctioned mass gathering on October 26.

Karnevich contends that he was doing his job as a journalist that day, covering the public gathering in the southwestern town of Svislach -- a commemoration of Kastus Kalinovski, a 19th-century Belarusian journalist and political activist who led a popular movement against Russian rule.

Karnevich has been charged with violating legislation on public gatherings in the past.

In 2011, he was found guilty of taking part in an unsanctioned public protest in Hrodna and fined $100 after he covered the event as a journalist.

  • 16x9 Image

    RFE/RL's Belarus Service

    RFE/RL's Belarus Service is one of the leading providers of news and analysis to Belarusian audiences in their own language. It is a bulwark against pervasive Russian propaganda and defies the government’s virtual monopoly on domestic broadcast media.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

If you are in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine and hold a Russian passport or are a stateless person residing permanently in Russia or the Russia-controlled parts of Ukraine, please note that you could face fines or imprisonment for sharing, liking, commenting on, or saving our content, or for contacting us.

To find out more, click here.

XS
SM
MD
LG