The Brest Regional Court on February 26 handed down sentences to media managers from Baranavichy Uladzimir Yanukevich and Andrei Pakalenka, the Belarusian Association of Journalists reported. The former heads of the Baranavichy news portal BAR24, and earlier the independent newspaper Intex-Press, were found guilty of “high treason” under Article 356 of the Criminal Code.
The trial, which began on February 3, was held behind closed doors, so details of the charges remain unknown.
As a result, Yanukevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined 3,000 base units (135,000 roubles) payable to the state, while Pakalenka received 12 years in prison and a fine of 1,000 base units (45,000 roubles). There is also information about a joint financial recovery from the convicted men amounting to around 200,000 roubles.
Yanukevich, 65, was the director and editor-in-chief of Intex-Press, the largest independent regional newspaper. The 44-year-old Pakalenka served as deputy director for development. After the newspaper was liquidated, they jointly created the BAR24 news website with their team.
In December 2024, BAR24 staff were detained, searches were carried out at the newsroom and in their apartments, and equipment was seized. Criminal cases were opened against six detainees under Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code (“Facilitating extremist activity”). The BAR24 website stopped being accessible on January 13, 2025.
Four BAR24 employees — Natallia Semianovich, Mikita Piatrouski, Ruslan Raviaka and Liudmila Zeliankova — were sentenced to so-called “home chemistry” and in November 2025 were added to the “extremists” list.
The editorial office of the Baranavichy-based Intex-Press newspaper faced pressure after the 2020 elections. Searches were conducted at the newsroom with the seizure of equipment, and the outlet’s website was blocked. Journalists were detained. In 2022, the newspaper was stripped of state registration. In April 2023, the Intex-Press website and social media accounts were designated as “extremist materials”. Yanukevich was tried and fined twice for publishing an interview with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
In 2025, state television aired a report about raids by security forces on the editorial offices of independent regional media, including BAR24. The outlets were accused of cooperating with the German embassy, which was alleged to have financed “extremist resources”. At the time the materials were published as part of the cooperation with the embassy, none of the media named in the video had been added to the “extremist” list. The report showed the interrogation of a BAR24 employee.
