Belarus: Journalist Alena Scharbinskaya Shares The Horrors Of Belarussian Detention Center.

Location: Belarus
Date: August 20, 2020

Journalist Alena Scharbinskaya has been hospitalized due to the brutal beatings she experienced while kept in a Belarussian detention center. Scharbinskaya was held for three days at the now-infamous detention center known among locals as “Akrestsin”. She was one of hundreds of journalists detained in Belarus last week, following the escalation of protests disputing the results of the August 9 presidential election.

As citizens took to streets to protest the allegedly rigged elections of August 9, journalists in Belarus took the brunt of police violence with many injured and facing persecution for performing their professional duties. At least 78 journalists were detained and attacked in various forms according to Belarusian Association of Journalists. Alena Scharbinskaya, along with two other colleagues from Belsat was detained on the basis of violating Article 23.34 regulating the right to protest and were not released until August 14 to receive medical attention as a result of the physical violence she faced under detention.

According to Scharbinskaya’s interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), she was detained by special police unit OMON while reporting on the protests outside a police station on the evening of August 10. The journalist was helping her colleague file a complaint concerning her missing husband when two police officers grabbed and dragged her to a police vehicle.

Scharbinskaya was first held in a section called karcer, where she and other women were forced to undress and then beaten with a baton by a female OMON officer. The officer is now known for her inhuman treatment of detainees, as she deliberately targets body parts that would hurt the most.

After the inspection in karcer, half-naked women were pushed out of the room to a corridor full of male detainees covered in blood. The journalist told CPJ that “It was clear that they were badly beaten. There were men who were moaning, some couldn’t help but shout from pain”.

According to Scharbinskaya, women and men were then separated and taken to different prison cells. Her cell was 12 square meters [about 129 square feet] with only two bunk beds for 26 women in the cell, a number that soon increased to 50: “Many of us had to sleep on the floor. The first 24 hours, they did not give us any food. The only thing we had was tap water with a strong chlorine taste. There was no toilet paper. It was very stuffy and hot in the cell”.

In spite of severe injuries and the cruelty the journalist endured, Scharbinskaya is determined to continue working. Although she understands she may find herself in a similar situation again, they did not succeed in frightening her as a journalist.

Alena was targeted by the police forces back in 2012 when she was called to the prosecutor’s office over allegations of "persistence in committing preparation of audio and video material, as well as interviewing people in order to prepare reports that are published on behalf of the foreign media”. The newsroom mentioned in the investigation had not been operating in Belarus since 2002 and Alena, at the time of the closing of the newsroom had not even started working as a reporter.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls on the Belarussian government to put an end to the arbitrary interference of people’s rights. Belarussian authorities must stop attacks against journalists and release those who have been detained, as well as persecute all who contributed to and performed acts of brutality. The Coalition For Women In Journalism strongly believes that access to information is a fundamental right and we are devoted to improving working conditions for all journalists around the world.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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