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Belarusian journalists handed jail terms in media crackdown

BY YURAS KARMANAU
Associated Press

LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Journalists of Belarus’ oldest newspaper have been handed prison terms in the latest move in a relentless government crackdown on independent media. Nasha Niva’s chief editor Yahor Martsinovich and journalist Andrey Skurko each were sentenced Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in prison on charges of dodging communal payments they have rejected as politically driven. Martsinovich and Skurko have remained in custody since their arrest in July. The newspaper was blocked in July and banned as extremist in November on the 115th anniversary of its founding. The ban has exposed anyone who would publish or repost Nasha Niva materials to prison terms of up to seven years.

Article Topic Follows: AP National News

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