Belarusian court sentences journalist Siarhei Chabotska to 3 ½ years in prison

New York, October 31, 2025—Belarusian authorities should immediately release journalist Siarhei Chabotska, and stop jailing journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

A Belarusian court convicted Chabotska on charges of creating or participating in an “extremist” group and defaming the president of Belarus, and sentenced him to three years and six months imprisonment on October 31. 

“The sentencing of journalist Siarhei Chabotska to years in prison over his work is yet another example of the Belarusian authorities’ continued crackdown on the press,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Authorities should immediately release Chabotska, along with all imprisoned journalists.”

The court, in the western city of Hrodna, also fined Chabotska — who denied the charges — 42,000 Belarusian rubles (US$12,310).

According to state broadcaster Hrodna Radio and Television, Chabotska was found guilty on Friday of “creating internet resources that posted materials inciting ideological hatred and containing false information about Belarus.” The authorities said s13.ru had published “calls for violent change of the constitutional order, insults against government officials, and defamatory information about the president of Belarus,” Hrodna Radio and Television reported.

Chabotska, the owner and editor-in-chief of s13.ru, a news portal created in 2005 that covers Hrodna, has been detained since October 23, 2024. A Hrodna court convicted him on October 25, 2024, on charges of distributing extremist materials and sentenced him to 15 days of administrative arrest. On the same day, the court labeled the content of s13.ru’s website and Telegram channel “extremist.”

Chabotska went on to serve two more 15-day periods of administrative detention consecutively: the second on charges of violating the procedure of organizing or holding mass protests, and the third again for distributing so-called extremist materials. A criminal case on extremism charges was then opened against him.

The Belarusian State Security Committee, or KGB, declared s13.ru an extremist group on November 5, 2024.

The Belarusian Criminal Code was amended in 2021 to comply with a package of extremism legislation. Since then, the law to combat extremism has been used to ban more than 35 media outlets, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, an advocacy and trade group operating from exile.

CPJ emailed the Belarusian Investigative Committee, the law enforcement agency in charge of pretrial proceedings, for comment on Chabotska’s case but did not receive a reply.

At least 22 journalists were behind bars in Belarus as of October 31, 2025.