Dzianis Jaŭhienavič Ivashyn (also Dzyanis Ivashyn, Denis Ivashin; be, Дзяніс Яўгенавіч Івашын; russian: Денис Евгеньевич Ивашин; born 6 June 1979, Hrodna, USSR) is a Belarusian journalist. He works as a freelance correspondent of Belarusian ''Novy Chas'' newspaper and a volunteer investigator of the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Inform Napalm InformNapalm is a volunteer initiative to inform Ukrainian citizens and the foreign public about the Russo-Ukrainian War and the activities of the Russian special services as well as the militants of DPR, LPR, and Novorossiya. The team members ...

project. He was arrested in 2021 by the

Belarusian KGB The State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus (KGB RB; russian: Комитет государственной безопасности Республики Беларусь, КГБ РБ; be, Камітэт дзяржаўнай бяс ...

and charged with high treason. His colleagues believe that this arrest was connected with his publications about former Ukrainian Berkut members employed by the Belarusian police.

Journalist

Ivashyn participated in the 2014

Euromaidan Euromaidan (; uk, Євромайдан, translit=Yevromaidan, lit=Euro Square, ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protes ...

in Ukraine, and later that year he entered the Ukrainian investigative project

as an editor of its Belarusian edition. In 2018, he became a freelance correspondent of ''Novy Chas'' newspaper. His main publications were dedicated to the foreign influence of Russia in Belarus and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, commercial development near the

Kuropaty Kurapaty ( be, Курапаты, ) is a wooded area on the outskirts of Minsk, Belarus, in which a vast number of people were executed between 1937 and 1941 during the Great Purge by the Soviet secret police, the NKVD. The exact count of victi ...

mass grave of the 1930s' Great Purge in the Soviet Union, and employment of former Ukrainian Berkut members by the Belarusian police. In 2017, he was sentenced to 5 days of prison for committing journalism at the Freedom Day meeting. On 12 March 2021, Ivashyn was detained in Hrodna by the

. His detention happened soon after he published an article about Berkut members in the Belarusian OMON. According to Ivashyn, who claimed to use only open source material, more than 10 former Berkut members who had left Ukraine served in Belarusian OMON as soldiers, ensigns and officers. He claimed that granting Belarusian citizenship to them and recruitment to police involved legal violations, and stated that several former Berkut members participated in the suppression of the 2020 Belarusian protests. Originally, Ivashyn was charged under article 365 of the Belarusian Criminal Code ("Interference in the activities of a police officer"). On 30 October 2021, it was uncovered that he was also charged under article 356 ("High treason"). His lawyer signed a nondisclosure agreement preventing him from disclosing information about the inquiry. Ivashyn was placed in the punishment cell (russian: карцер) at least 5 times (30 days). According to his wife, he had a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

during his second stay in the punishment cell. His relatives claim that his right to correspond was artificially restricted by the prison manager. On 24 March 2021, 8 Belarusian human rights organizations recognized Ivashyn as a political prisoner and called for his immediate release.

European Federation of Journalists The European Federation of Journalists is the European regional organisation of the International Federation of Journalists. It is the largest organisation of journalists in Europe, representing about 320,000 journalists in 71 journalists’ orga ...

demanded immediate release of Ivashyn.

Seán Haughey Seán Haughey (born 8 November 1961) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has been a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin Bay North constituency since 2016, and previously from 1992 to 2011 for the Dublin North-Central constituency. He served ...

, Irish member of Parliament, became a "godfather" (sponsor) of Ivashyn.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivashyn, Dzianis 1979 births Living people Belarusian journalists Belarusian political prisoners Political prisoners according to Viasna Human Rights Centre