Belarus Jails Independent Newspaper Editor for 4 Years Amid Ongoing Media Crackdown

Aliaksandr Mantsevich, known for criticizing Belarus' government, has been charge with "discrediting the Republic of Belarus," adding to the count of 33 journalists behind bars in the country amid intensified crackdown on independent journalism.

• Belarusian authorities have sentenced Aliaksandr Mantsevich, the editor-in-chief of the independent Regionalnaya Gazeta newspaper, to four years in prison for 'discrediting the Republic of Belarus' in an ongoing crackdown on independent journalism.
• Alongside his sentence, Mantsevich has also been fined 94,000 Belarusian rubles (approximately $30,000), according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.
• Mantsevich and his newspaper have been accused of using 'extremist' content, a label that the Belarusian government has broadly applied to any materials critical of their policies or practices.
• The sentence arrived in the midst of President Alexander Lukashenko's intensified measures against protestors following the contentious 2020 presidential election, in which Lukashenko claimed a sixth term amid widespread allegations of voting fraud.
• Mantsevich, who had already spent eight months in pre-trial detention during which his health significantly deteriorated, affirmed his pride in his publication, stating, "I'm sure that at some point in the city (of Molodechno) will appear a street named after our newspaper, which strengthened the authority of the Belarusian people, lived through the concerns of our readers and wrote the truth."

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