TALLINN, Estonia — A distinguished journalist went on trial in Belarus Monday, the newest step in a years-long crackdown on opposition figures, unbiased journalists and human rights activists.

If convicted on the costs of aiding extremist exercise, Pavel Mazheika, 45, faces as much as six years in jail for his work masking the political opposition.

He is accused of working for information shops together with Belsat TV, which broadcasts in Belarusian from its base in neighboring Poland. The Belarusian authorities have labeled Belsat as “extremist.”

Journalists and activists in Belarus have confronted large-scale repression because the August 2020 vote that handed a sixth time period to President Alexander Lukashenko. Following the election, which was rejected as fraudulent by the opposition and the West, Belarus was swept by large protests, a few of which drew greater than 100,000 folks.

Authorities responded with a brutal crackdown. More than 35,000 folks have been arrested, 1000's have been overwhelmed by police whereas in custody, and dozens of nongovernmental organizations and unbiased media shops have been shut down.

Mazheika has been behind bars for greater than 10 months since he was detained on August 30, 2022. In courtroom footage from Belarusian state information company Belta, the journalist had noticeably misplaced weight and saved his again turned to the digicam. Mazheika had beforehand mentioned that he was severely overwhelmed throughout his arrest by safety officers who tried to gouge out his eye.

The reporter is only one of 35 Belarusian media employees at the moment jailed or awaiting trial, in accordance with the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

Mazheika is on trial within the metropolis of Grodno, in western Belarus. He appeared within the dock alongside lawyer Yuliya Yurhilevich, who was accused of giving him data on Belarus’ political prisoners.

Yurhilevich, 42, who has practiced regulation for nearly 18 years and defended human rights activists, was stripped of her license in February 2022.

Mazheika is a well known determine in Belarus. In 2002, he was sentenced to 2 years in jail for “slandering the president”, earlier than turning into press secretary for presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich in 2006.

Mazheika has since labored for main unbiased information shops in each Belarus and Poland, internet hosting a number of exhibits and appearing as government director for Belsat TV.

Belarusian opposition chief Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is amongst those that have condemned Mazheika’s and Yurhilevich’s arrests.

“A well-known journalist and lawyer in the dock is the verdict against the Lukashenko regime, which declares anyone who disagrees with the dictatorship an extremist,” she mentioned. “Mazheika has already become a legendary journalist who pays a high price for freedom of speech”.

Some 1,491 acknowledged political prisoners are at the moment behind bars in Belarus, in accordance with the Viasna human rights heart.

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