Zhukouski: Judge Punished Himself, His Relatives, Public Prosecutors, Policemen
- 22.01.2018, 10:58
Independent journalists were fined $ 1,000 for the truth about the suffocating stench from the plant in Svetlahorsk.
On January 18, the Svetlahorsk district court sentenced Homel freelance journalists Kastus Zhukouski and Andrei Tolchyn to heavy fines for allegedly illegally interviewing residents of the village of Yakimava Slabada, producing and distributing media products without accreditation for the Belsat television channel, the Homel Viasna reports.
Zhukovsky was fined for 50 base fees (Bn 1,225), Tolchyn — for 45 base fees (Bn 1 102,5).
— Judge Ruslan Tsaruk, who fined me and Tolchyn today, punished not only us. He predetermined his life in a harmful stench, as well as his relatives, prosecutors, policemen and the town with 70 000 residents, and the villages, adjacent to the bleached pulp plant,” — journalist Zhukouski said.
The administrative protocols against the freelancers were drawn up by senior district inspector, police captain Siarhei Shlikht. He accused the freelancers of violating the law on the media. According to the police, the freelancers abused the rights and duties of a journalist, as they carried out questioning of the residents of the village of Yakimava Slabada and thus participated in the production and distribution of media products in the form of a story that was posted in the media.
Last December, freelancers video-recorded the statements of the residents of the village of Yakimava Slabada about the suffocating stench, which filled the neighborhood recently. It comes from the bleached sulphate pulp plant, built by the Chinese and on the Chinese loan. The video was posted on YouTube, some pictures were used by the satellite television channel Belsat.
Dozens of residents of the town and the village of Yakimava Slabada appeared in court to support Zhukouski and Tolchyn.
— Everyone was surprised how it was possible to try journalists for having told the truth,” — Andrei Tolchyn said.