Ihar Lednik

Affiliated media: Pazitsyia, Publicist

Incident date: April 18, 2022

Attack type:

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

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Minsk

Additional information:

Ihar Lednik, publicist and activist of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, was sentenced to three years in jail. He was charged with Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (defamation against the President). The verdict was passed by the judge of the Leninski district of Minsk Tatsiana Shotik. The court also ruled to confiscate Lednik’s computer and smartphone in favor of the state and «physically liquidate» the copies of the magazine Pazitsyia seized during the search. The reason for the prosecution was Lednik’s article titled «Internationally Recognized Neutrality of Belarus — a Guarantee of Security in the OSCE Region», published in the party magazine Pazitsya in December 2020. Lednik was detained on April 18, 2022. He was arrested for 15 days allegedly for «insubordination,» but after serving his sentence, the activist was never released — later, his accomplices found him in the detention center № 8 in Zhodzina.