The Minsk court handed down a 4-yr prison term to Volha Radzivonava this tuesday; she faced accusations of disrespecting Alexander Lukashenko and damaging Belarus reputation through her reporting
In an example of on-going pressure on independent media Radzivonava (who wrote for KYKY.org news site and did free-lance work) got arrested back in march - sheʼs been behind bars since. The courts decision shows how Belarus deals with critical coverage: journalists face serious trouble for questioning state policies
The charges against the news-writer included what officials call “insulting the president“; this kind of accusation has become common in todays Belarus. Her work focused on covering day-to-day life and government actions in the eastern-european nation which has seen less press freedom lately