A representative of the Belsat TV channel Irina Slavnikova and her husband were detained at the Minsk airport. They were placed in an isolation ward

In the Belarusian capital, officers of the Pervomaisky District Department of Internal Affairs detained Irina Slavnikova, a representative of the Belsat TV channel, and her husband Alyaksandr Loiko. Directly from the airport, where they flew from Egypt, the spouses were taken to the detention center on Akrestsin Street.

Employees of the Sovetskiy District Department of Internal Affairs of Minsk told her father about Slavnikova’s detention, where he had come to write a statement about the disappearance of his daughter. He was told that Irina and Alexander were detained for committing some kind of administrative offense, writes human rights center “Vesna”.

Earlier on the detention of a representative of “Belsat” and deputy chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Irina Slavnikova and her husband wrote Aleksey Dzikovitsky, deputy director of the Belsat TV channel. According to him, the border guards and customs officers at the airport stated in a conversation with Irina’s father that no one was detained, and all passengers from the flight went through control. “Where our colleague is now is unknown, the phone is disconnected,” added Dzikovitsky.

Belsat is a satellite TV channel established in 2007 under an agreement between the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Polish Public Television (TVP). Broadcasting is carried out mainly in Belarusian, but some programs and interviews are aired in Russian.

Belsat is actively covering the protests in Belarus. Many journalists of the TV channel have been repeatedly tried and arrested. In November 2020, the journalists of the TV channel Katerina Andreeva and Daria Chultsova were arrested for broadcasting a peaceful rally in memory of Roman Bondarenko, who died during the arrest. In February 2021 they were convicted for two years in prison.

In July 2021, the information resources of the Belsat TV channel – its website and pages in social networks – were recognized as extremist.