Pavel Mitskevich

Affiliated media: Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus, Journalist

Incident date: July 20, 2020

Attack type:

• Pressure on a media worker via judicial and/or economic pressure on relatives and loved ones

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: BAJ - Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Gomel

Additional information:

Gomel court started a review of an administrative offense report on hooliganism, filed against 18-year-old Yurii Germanovich (His parents are Alyona Germanovich and Pavel Mitskevich – independent journalists). Young man pleaded not guilty and told the court that on the morning on 3 July as he was walking towards the beach with his friend, he was approached by two strangers in civilian clothing, who briefly showed their IDs and searched through their things. They were then walked to a minibus with other OMON officers and taken to the central District Office of Internal affairs. “No one told us why we were detained. I didn’t break the law. I was taken to a temporary detention facility and was told I’ll be free to go if my parents (who are journalists) stop writing. But if they continue to write, I’ll go to prison for two years”.- told Germanovich the court.