Journalist Mierkis goes on trial in Homiel

May 11, BPN. The Homiel Regional Court has started hearing a case against freelance journalist Jaŭhien Mierkis, the court’s electronic schedule says.

Judge Alaksiej Hłyščankoŭ is presiding over the closed trial. 

Authorities accuse the journalist of facilitating extremist activities as well as creating and running an extremist group.

Police arrested Mierkis in September 2022 and searched his apartment and the home of his father, a well-known cardiologist Alaksandr Mierkis, but did not take anything. A laptop and a smartphone were confiscated during a raid on the apartment of the journalist’s girlfriend, Sviatłana Kaścenka.

The reporter had cooperated with independent media outlets, including Belsat TV. After the channel was labeled as an “extremist group,” Mierkis, a historian by training, paused journalism and focused on local history projects.

He spent 27 days in a detention facility in September 2020 over unauthorized rallies and was also briefly detained in December 2021.

Belarus has at least 33 media workers behind bars, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists.