New York, May 2, 2005—A Belarusian court granted early release
Saturday to two Russian journalists arrested last week while covering
an opposition demonstration in the capital, Minsk, that marked the anniversary
of the April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The journalists were freed
along with 12 Russians who participated in the rally, according to local
and international press reports.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said jailing the reporters was
unjust because they were simply doing their jobs.
Last Wednesday, the Leninsky Court in Minsk sentenced Aleksey Ametyov,
a correspondent for the Russian edition of Newsweek magazine,
to a 10-day jail term and Mikhail Romanov, a reporter for the Russian
daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, to an eight-day term for participating
in a rally that was not approved by the Minsk government. The court
handed brief jail sentences and fines to the 12 other Russians, five
Ukrainians, and 14 Belarusians. The Ukrainian and Belarusian demonstrators
remained in custody today, according to press reports.
The Minsk City Court announced Saturday that it had reduced the Russian
protesters' sentences because they are first-time offenders, The Associated
Press reported.
Forty people were detained at the April 26 rally, which drew about 400
demonstrators. Protesters opposed President Aleksandr Lukashenko's policy
to repopulate and farm the Chernobyl region. Demonstrators included
Belarusian, Ukrainian and Russian citizens, carrying posters, flags
and banners covered with anti-Lukashenko slogans. Some carried the banned
Belarusian national flag and European Union flag; others had orange
banners that invoked neighboring Ukraine's Orange Revolution. Police
forcefully dispersed the demonstration Tuesday evening, according to
press reports.
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