Belarusian journalist Pavel Dabravolski has been convicted of treason and sentenced to nine years in a maximum-security prison, activists reported on Monday. The closed-door trial at Minsk City Court found the 36-year-old guilty, marking the fifth media worker to be jailed in two weeks amid a government crackdown on press freedom.
Dabravolski, who has reported for international and domestic outlets and won numerous prizes, most recently worked for BelaPAN, which Belarusian authorities have designated as extremist. The Belarusian Association of Journalists confirmed the sentence, noting that 28 journalists are currently imprisoned in the country.
Exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya described the charges as “trumped-up,” stating that Dabravolski’s only crime was covering the 2020 protests following the disputed elections. “We see that the conveyor belt of repression inside Belarus continues unabated,” she said.
Andrei Bastunets, head of the journalists’ association, said the sentence shows increasing pressure on media workers in a country with Europe’s worst freedom of speech record. He added that the case contradicts any suggestion of improvement in human rights, despite the recent release of some prominent political prisoners.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus for over three decades, has maintained power through a relentless crackdown on dissent. Since the 2020 protests, more than 65,000 people have been arrested, thousands beaten, and hundreds of independent media outlets shut down. Human rights organisation Viasna estimates there are currently 1,140 political prisoners in Belarus.
