Aliaksei Krugliak (Kaverin)

Affiliated media: Radio station Gomel, Radio host

Incident date: March 12, 2022

Attack type:

• Court trial

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Gomel

Additional information:

The Tsentralny District Court of Homel sentenced Aliaksei Krugliak (pseudonym Aliaksei Kaverin), the host of the radio station Gomel, to one year in prison. The journalist was accused of «organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them» (Part 1 of Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus). According to the prosecution, in 2020, after the presidential election, Krugliak wrote several messages about protests in a closed working chat: he proposed to go to the streets, take part in marches, and join solidarity chains. These messages were considered by the prosecution as calls for unauthorized rallies that grossly violated the order, and Krugliak himself as their organiser. A criminal case against the journalist was opened in autumn 2021. Krugliak was detained on December 2, 2021, and held in pre-trial detention center № 3 in Gomel until the trial.