Pavel Mazheika

Affiliated media: Journalist

Incident date: July 26, 2023

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Hrodna

Additional information:

The Hrodna Regional Court sentenced journalist Pavel Mazheika to 6 years in a reinforced regime colony. The journalist was tried together with his lawyer Yulia Yurhilevich. Judge Maksim Filatau found them guilty of assisting «extremist activity» committed repeatedly (Part 2 of Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). According to the investigation, Pavel Mazheika provided information from Yurhilevich for posting on the website of the TV channel Belsat (declared extremist formation in Belarus), about the fact that she had been deprived of her lawyer’s licence and about the sentence of the politically imprisoned artist Ales Pushkin, whom she defended. In the case materials, there was no direct evidence of providing any information to Belsat. Pavel Mazheika and Yulia Yurhilevich pleaded not guilty in court.