New York, April 2, 2025— Belarusian authorities should immediately release journalist Anatol Sanatsenka, who was sentenced to 15 days of administrative detention on March 31 on accusations of distributing “extremist” content, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday.
“Belarusian authorities continue to target members of the press in a reign of terror that has plagued the country since President Aleksandr Lukashenko’s disputed 2020 reelection,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Authorities should drop all charges against journalist Anatol Sanatsenka, release him immediately, and ensure that no journalists are jailed for their work.”
Sanatsenka, former editor-in-chief of the now-shuttered Babrujski Kurier independent news site, was detained on March 28 after police searched his home in the eastern city of Babruysk. A court in Babruysk sentenced Sanatsenka to 15 days of administrative arrest on March 31 and the same day authorities searched the home of Sanatsenka’s nephew, the former owner of Babrujski Kurier.
A Belarusian Association of Journalists representative told CPJ, on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal, that Sanatsenka’s detention was “most likely” connected to his journalism.
Authorities previously held Sanatsenka for 30 days under similar charges in 2022. Babrujski Kurier’s website was blocked and labeled “extremist” in September 2022.
CPJ emailed the Belarusian Investigative Committee, the country’s law enforcement agency, for comment but did not receive any response.
Belarus is the world’s fourth-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 31 journalists behind bars, on December 1, 2024, when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census.