Ihar Karnei

Affiliated media: Freelance journalist

Incident date: December 13, 2024

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Shklov

Additional information:

The Shklov District Court has found political prisoner and journalist Ihar Karnei guilty of wilful disobedience to the lawful demands of the administration of Penal Colony IK-17 in Shklov (under Part 1, Article 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). As a penalty, Judge Alexander Tarakanov added a further ten months to Karnei's prison sentence. As this is his second criminal conviction, there is a possibility that Karnei will be transferred to a stricter prison regime. The journalist had been sent to the Shklov colony to serve a sentence handed down on charges of participation in an “extremist formation”. On 22 March 2024, judge Sergei Katser of the Minsk City Court sentenced the journalist to three years’ imprisonment in a general-regime colony and imposed a fine of 20,000 roubles (under Part 3, Article 361-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus).