Belarus journalist jailed for “facilitating extremism” after collecting data for human rights group

By YURAS KARMANAU

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A court in Belarus has sentenced a high-profile journalist to 3 1/2 years for “facilitating extremist activities” and “discrediting Belarus” after she provided data for a renowned human rights group. Fifty-year-old Larysa Shchyrakova will serve her sentence in a high-security penal colony and must pay a fine of about $1,100, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said Thursday. Shchyrakova is the latest in a string of journalists jailed in Belarus after covering the large-scale political repression that has rocked the country since its last presidential elections in August 2020. Prosecutors accused Shchyrakova of collecting and sharing information for Belarus’ leading human rights center, Viasna, which local officials have labeled as “extremist.”