{"id":4697,"date":"2021-10-07T04:25:59","date_gmt":"2021-10-07T04:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/the-only-correct-decision-komsomolskaya-pravda-shutters-branch-in-belarus-after-authorities-block-its-website-and-arrest-reporter.html"},"modified":"2021-10-07T04:25:59","modified_gmt":"2021-10-07T04:26:01","slug":"the-only-correct-decision-komsomolskaya-pravda-shutters-branch-in-belarus-after-authorities-block-its-website-and-arrest-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediateka.online\/learnrussian\/the-only-correct-decision-komsomolskaya-pravda-shutters-branch-in-belarus-after-authorities-block-its-website-and-arrest-reporter.html","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The only correct decision\u2019 Komsomolskaya Pravda shutters branch in Belarus after authorities block its website and arrest reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The popular Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda is shutting down its branch in Belarus. In an editorial published on Tuesday, October 5, the newspaper explained that this decision was made upon considering \u201cthe events of the past year and especially the past week.\u201d\u00a0Komsomolskaya Pravda said that all of the staff from its Belarusian edition would be offered compensation or jobs in other branches of the company. A week earlier, the website Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus was blocked after the tabloid published an article about Andrey Zeltsar, an IT worker who was involved in a shootout with security forces in Minsk on September 28. The reporter who authored the article, Gennady Mozheiko, was arrested on charges of inciting hatred and insulting a government official. He is currently in custody at the Okrestina Street detention center in Minsk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On September 28, Belarusian security forces stormed the apartment of Andrey Zeltsar, an IT worker for the company EPAM Systems. The raid resulted in a shootout; Zeltsar fatally wounded a KGB officer and subsequently killed by security forces.<\/p>\n

Later that day, the Belarusian edition of the Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published an article about the firefight on its website. The article, authored by reporter Gennady Mozheiko, included comments by Zeltsar\u2019s former classmate. She said that he was \u201cpositive, honest, and spoke up for the truth.\u201d This acquaintance also expressed astonishment over Zeltsar\u2019s involvement in the firefight, saying she \u201cdidn\u2019t know what happened to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, the website Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus stopped working. The Belarusian state-owned telecommunications operator Beltelecom said that access to it was restricted on the basis of a decision from the country\u2019s Information Ministry. The daily\u2019s website was also rendered inaccessible inside Russia.\u00a0The Belarusian Information Ministry said it decided to block the tabloid\u2019s website because it \u201ccontains information that could produce threats to national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Komsomolskaya Pravda editor-in-chief Vladimir Sungorkin surmised that \u201cthree minutes after publication, smart people decided\u201d that the interview could be read as \u201cwhitewashing a terrorist.\u201d \u201cThe authorities of Belarus [made] a political decision that the media field should be 100 percent controlled, and they aren\u2019t happy with Komsomolskaya Pravda. This resource, in their imagination, is under the control of Russia,\u201d Sungorkin maintained.<\/p>\n

A few days later, on October 2, the Belarusian human rights group Viasna reported that Gennady Mozheiko had been arrested. It later emerged that he was in custody at the notorious Okrestina Street detention center in Minsk.<\/p>\n

Mozheiko\u2019s detention<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Initially, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported that Gennady Mozheiko was detained in Moscow and then taken to Belarus. The journalist\u2019s mother, Irina, told the daily that when she spoke with her son via video call on the afternoon of September 30, he was staying at a hotel in the Russian capital. On the night of October 1\u20132, Mozheiko called his mother again and said that he had been detained and was in the Okrestina Street detention center in Minsk.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mozheiko\u2019s mother also said that KGB officers searched the reporter\u2019s apartment in Belarus prior to his arrest and \u201cseized flash drives, stickers, and badges\u201d (Mozheiko wasn\u2019t present at the time of the search). The search warrant was reportedly issued on the same two criminal charges: inciting hatred and insulting a government official.\u00a0<\/p>\n