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Uladz Hrydzin is released after 11 days in detention in Minsk on September 24, 2020.
Uladz Hrydzin is released after 11 days in detention in Minsk on September 24, 2020.

MINSK -- A photographer who previously worked for RFE/RL's Belarus Service has been sentenced to 13 days in jail for "disobedience to police," a charge that he has rejected.

Judge Tatsyana Palulekh of the Frunze district court in Minsk sentenced Uladz Hrydzin on February 7 after finding him guilty of refusing to follow police orders to let them inside his apartment to conduct a search last week.

Police searched Hrydzin's apartment on February 4 in a "mass disorder" case linked to anti-government protests that has thousands of suspects, according to investigators.

The Crisis In Belarus

Read our coverage as Belarusian strongman Alyaksandr Lukashenka continues his brutal crackdown on NGOs, activists, and independent media following the August 2020 presidential election.

Hrydzin's relatives have said the photographer stopped communicating with them on February 4. They added that when they came to Hrydzin’s apartment on February 6, they saw evidence that it had been searched, with Hrydzin's belongings scattered on the floor while his laptop and camera were missing.

The relatives learned later that Hrydzin was taken to Minsk's notorious Akrestsina detention center, where many inmates have said they were tortured.

RFE/RL Vice President and Editor in Chief Daisy Sindelar condemned the arrest in a statement on February 7.

“We are deeply concerned by news of the arrest of our former RFE/RL colleague and condemn the Belarusian government’s ongoing campaign to silence journalists and prevent them from reporting the truth,“ Sindelar said.

Hrydzin worked as a photo correspondent for RFE/RL's Belarus Service until August 29, 2020, when authorities revoked his accreditation.

He was arrested in 2020 for filming a protest that arose after a disputed presidential election and served 11 days in detention.

The protest rallies took place after authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka claimed victory in the election, which the opposition says was rigged.

Hrydzin won the Belarus Press Photo contest in 2015 and his pictures have been published by world agencies and mass media.

Kyrgyz journalist Bolot Temirov regularly reports on his YouTube program about corruption, often involving powerful figures in the country.
Kyrgyz journalist Bolot Temirov regularly reports on his YouTube program about corruption, often involving powerful figures in the country.

The authorities are putting pressure on journalists in Kyrgyzstan.

On the evening of January 22, Kyrgyz police raided the office of investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, who regularly reports on his YouTube program Temirov LIVE about corruption, often involving powerful figures in the country.

The raid came two days after Temirov reported allegations that relatives of the head of the State Committee for National Security (UKMK), Kamchybek Tashiev, were involved in a scheme to redirect petroleum products, skimming off the profits from the deal.

Police claimed to have found drugs on Temirov, which he said were planted on him during the raid. A subsequent blood test on Temirov showed no traces of illegal substances.

The raid was preceded by a plot to lure a female employee of Temirov's program into an intimate relationship that was filmed, then the video was used to try to blackmail the young woman into informing the UKMK about Temirov's work.

On this week's Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion on the campaign against Temirov LIVE, and also the problems of Kaktus.media, an independent Kyrgyz news outlet facing charges of spreading propaganda for reposting an article by an independent Tajik news outlet during recent clashes along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.

This week's guests are: from Sarajevo, Ilya Lozovsky, staff writer and editor at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which worked with RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk, and local Kyrgyz news website Kloop.kg to produce detailed reports about the raid on Temirov LIVE; from Bishkek, Begaim Usenova, media expert and consultant, and formerly the director of the Bishkek-based Media Policy Institute; and Central Asia analyst Bruce Pannier.

What The Temirov Case Says About The Kyrgyz Media
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"Watchdog" is a blog with a singular mission -- to monitor the latest developments concerning human rights, civil society, and press freedom. We'll pay particular attention to reports concerning countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region.

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