Pavel Dabravolski was detained on January 22, 2025, and faces up to 15 years in prison on treason charges. Dabravolski’s detention was first made public on August 26 by Belarus-based human rights group Viasna and the Pozirknews agency.
Pozirk reported that Dabravolski was detained “in connection with his professional activities” under Article 356, part 1 of the Criminal Code and is being held by the Belarusian State Security Committee, or KGB, in a pretrial detention center.
Dabravolski had worked with independent news agency BelaPAN before the KGB declared it an “extremist group” in November 2021, Pozirk reported. According to Viasna, Dabravolski is a former journalist with Naviny.by, a news website affiliated with BelaPAN. He had previously worked for both Belarusian and foreign media, including the independent Ukrainian news outlet New Voice of Ukraine, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), an exiled advocacy and trade group.
Dabravolski was first detained while covering 2020 protests demanding the resignation of President Aleksandr Lukashenko, Viasna reported. According to Pozirk, he was arrested for 15 days in Minsk in October 2020. He leftBelarus in the fall of 2021 and returned to Minsk in October 2024.
CPJ emailed the KGB for comment on Dabravolski’s detention but did not receive a reply.
At least three journalists — Dzianis Ivashyn, Katsiaryna Andreyeva, Andrei Aliaksandrau are currently imprisoned on treason charges.