Belarus: Journalist Ksenya Lutskina Sentenced To Eight Years In Prison
Location: Belarus, Minsk
Date: September 28, 2022
On Wednesday, Minsk City Court sentenced journalist Ksenia Lutskina to eight years of incarceration. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled by the unjust ruling and calls on the Belarusian authorities to immediately put an end to repression and release all journalists and political prisoners.
Lutskina was detained on December 22, 2022, on Mulyavina Boulevard, while she was shopping near the Central Shopping Center. Her house was searched and inspected for four hours. Her computer, phone, flash drives and documents were confiscated by the police. Lutskina was then detained and charged according to Part 1 of Article 357 of the Criminal Code- Conspiracy or other actions committed with the aim of seizing state power. On December 31, 2020, Lutskina was also charged under Part 2 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code - Evasion of taxes and fees on an especially large scale.
The arrest and detention of Ksenia Lutskina is a perpetuation of the wave of censorship caused by the declaration of the presidential election in early May 2020. Over a period of 10 months, a frighteningly high number of citizens, including journalists, bloggers and activists, became the subjects of numerous forms of harassment and oppression: dismissals, imprisonment, fines, and politically-motivated criminal charges.
Belarusian authorities accused the journalist of having “prepared, edited and corrected various statements and appeals” of the Coordination Council and thereby contributed to the “destabilization of the political, social, economic and informational situation in the country,” according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, a local advocacy and trade group.
Ksenia Lutskina, a former journalist of Belteleradiocompany, worked at the media channel until August 2020. After the May 2020 presidential elections in Belarus, she joined the strike of the holding's employees, and later resigned from the position as a correspondent of the "Belarus 2" TV channel and joined the Coordination Council. Together with other journalists who also resigned from their posts, they had plans to create "alternative television" on the online video sharing and social media platform, YouTube. The Academy of the Press Club participated in developing the project. The launch was supposed to happen in January 2021, after the first shows were recorded.
The journalist has been behind bars since December 2020 because she dared to speak out against the regime. Lutskina has a brain tumor but never asked the dictator for pardon. Her health has decreased significantly in jail. The Coalition For Women In Journalism vehemently condemns the prison sentencing of Ksenia Lutskina and urges the Belarusian government to refrain from using criminal charges as an instrument of pressure on freedom of expression.
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.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.