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A Grodno court sentenced journalist Siarhei Chabotska to three-and-a-half years in prison for alleged extremism, underscoring Belarus’s continued assault on independent journalism.Summary
GRODNO, Belarus — A Belarusian court has sentenced journalist Siarhei Chabotska, founder and editor-in-chief of the Grodno-based news portal s13.ru, to three years and six months in prison on charges of creating or participating in an “extremist formation” and defaming President Alexander Lukashenko.
Judge Yuri Kazakevich of the Leninsky District Court in Grodno delivered the verdict on October 31. In addition to imprisonment, Chabotska was ordered to pay a fine of 1,000 base units, equal to about 42,000 Belarusian rubles (US$14,200). The journalist pleaded not guilty.
State-run Grodno Radio and Television reported that Chabotska was found guilty of creating online platforms that “posted materials inciting ideological hatred and containing false information about Belarus.” Authorities accused s13.ru of publishing “calls for the violent change of the constitutional order, insults against officials, and defamatory statements about the president.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the sentencing, calling it another example of Belarus’s crackdown on the independent press. “The sentencing of journalist Siarhei Chabotska to years in prison over his work is yet another example of the Belarusian authorities’ continued crackdown on the press,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Authorities should immediately release Chabotska, along with all imprisoned journalists.”
Chabotska, who has been in detention since October 23, 2024, was repeatedly arrested on administrative charges before the criminal case was opened. The Leninsky District Court of Grodno initially sentenced him to 15 days of administrative arrest for distributing “extremist materials.” He later received two more 15-day sentences, one for allegedly violating procedures for organizing protests and another for the same “extremist” materials charge.
On November 5, 2024, the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) declared s13.ru an “extremist formation.” A month later, on December 9, 2024, the website and its staff, including Chabotska and journalist Raman Aleshka, were officially added to the national list of “organizations involved in extremist activities.”
While Chabotska remained in custody, authorities continued targeting his media project. On March 14, 2025, a Grodno court ruled that the outlet’s TikTok and YouTube accounts were “extremist information products.”
Founded in 2005, s13.ru operated for 19 years as one of Grodno’s most popular local news portals, initially starting as a community blog before becoming a citywide news aggregator.
Belarus’s extremism laws have increasingly been used to silence journalists and independent outlets. The Belarusian Association of Journalists, operating in exile, reports that over 35 media organizations have been banned under such legislation since 2021. As of October 31, 2025, at least 22 journalists remain behind bars in Belarus.
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