Pavlo Sharoyko, a special correspondent for the National Ukrainian Radio in Minsk, was reportedly detained on Oct. 25 by the State Security Agency of Belarus. But the news didn’t become public until Nov. 17, when some Ukrainian journalists reported on Sharoyko’s arrest.
The information was soon confirmed by Sharoyko’s wife and the Ukraine ambassador to Belarus Ihor Kyzym.
“We are figuring out the situation. The question is under our control,” Kyzym told RFE/RL adding that his embassy sent a diplomatic note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus.
Head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Serhiy Tomilenko wrote on Facebook that Sharoyko’s apartment had been searched, and he had only got a state-appointed attorney.
Sharoyko has not been officially charged but Zurab Alasania, CEO of the Ukraine’s Public Broadcasting Company, claimed he was accused of espionage, citing unaccredited sources.
Belarus has not responded to the allegations. Spokesperson for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dmitry Mironchik refused to comment, Interfax reported on Nov. 17.
Deputy chief editor of the National Ukrainian Radio Svitlana Myalyk said on the air with 112.ua TV Channel that last time she spoke to Sharoyko on Oct. 23. When she had not heard from her Minsk reporter for over a week, she unsuccessfully tried contacting him and his family.
Myalyk believes Sharoyko’s detention may be linked to his professional activity as he covered meetings of the Trilateral contact group on Ukraine, opposition movement in Belarus, and Russia-Belarus military exercises Zapad-2017.
Sharoyko also covered the story of a Ukrainian teenager Pavlo Hryb who disappeared in Belarus and was taken by Russian special services. A 19-year-old was arrested in Belarus on Aug. 25 and later moved to the Krasnodar detention center in southern Russia. The court extended Hryb’s custody until January on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack in Sochi.
Another Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko remains in custody in Russia where he’s pending a trial. A France correspondent for Ukrainian newswire Ukrinform Sushchenko was detained in Moscow on Sept. 30, 2016, on charges of espionage. Official Kyiv called the accusations far-fetched and politically motivated.
