Aleh Hruzdzilovich
RFE/RL reporter, released on pardon
Date of birth: 16 December 1958
Date of detention: 23 December 2021
Charges indicted:
Art. 342 of the Criminal Code — Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them
Sentence: 1 1/2 years
Penalty: imprisonment in a general-security penal colony
Date of release: 21 September 2022
Judge: Siarhei Shatsila
Statement on the status of a political prisoner
Godparent: Adis Ahmetovic, member of the German Bundestag
Aleh Hruzdzilovich is a reporter working with RFE/RL's Belarus service.
In the summer of 2020, Hruzdzilovich actively covered social and political events in Belarus and hosted the RFE/RL's livestreams. In August 2020, he was deprived of his accreditation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, along with most foreign journalists.
Aleh was detained on July 16, 2021 during mass searches of independent journalists in Minsk and other Belarusian cities. The journalist's apartment was searched, the equipment was confiscated, and then he was placed in a temporary detention center and was not released after 72 hours.
The journalist was released on July 26.
On December 23, 2021, masked men detained Aleh Hruzdzilovich, having broken down the doors in his home. He was taken into custody as a suspect in the criminal case "Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them" (Article 342 of the Criminal Code).
On 16 February 2022 Aleh's case was transferred to court. On March 2, the court of Saviecki district of Minsk started to consider the case; the prosecutor requested 1.5 years of imprisonment in a general-security penal colony for the journalist. Judge Siarhei Shatsila pronounced exactly this verdict on 3 March.
On September 21, 2022, it became known that Hruzdzilovich was released on pardon.
