Andrey Skurko

Affiliated media: Nasha Niva, Head of Marketing and Advertising Department

Incident date: July 28, 2021

Attack type:

• Criminal/administrative prosecution excluding (1), (2) and (3)

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Minsk

Additional information:

The editor-in-chief of Nasha Niva Yahor Martsinovich and the head of the advertising and marketing department Andrey Skurko were charged under Part 2 of Article 216 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (infliction of property damage without signs of plunder by a group of persons). On July 28, 10 days have passed since they were detained again and they remain in the pre-trial detention centre on Volodarskogo Street. The claim is that the payment for the utilities of the premises was based on the tariffs for individuals, while it was necessary to pay according to the tariffs for legal entities. Investigators calculated that the enterprise Minenergo suffered damage of BYN 3,500 over four years. The enterprise itself never filed any claims. Human rights activists declared the journalists political prisoners.