Sergei Satsuk, editor-in-chief of the Belarusian online magazine “Ezhednevnik,” was detained on the outskirts of Minsk on Wednesday by unidentified men in civilian clothes. According to Zhanna’s wife, the men quickly identified themselves as from the Financial Investigation Department of the State Control Committee and did not explain why they were taking Sergey away. The family was on their way to the hardware store, but they were stopped at the entrance.
Sergei Satsuk is known for his journalistic investigations. One of the most prominent is about the supply of the unregistered drug “Eupenta” to Belarus. After vaccination with this Korean vaccine in the summer of 2018, a two-month-old baby died in the district center of Gantsyevichi. Investigating the website of the district hospital, the journalist discovered that the unregistered vaccine had been used on children since January 2017, and criticized the explanations of the Ministry of Health about the safety of the drug. Sergei Satsuk found out that “Эупента” was not even registered in the country of origin at that time and was classified as a scientific development in the registration stage. The journalist raised for public discussion troublesome questions about local authorities: who allowed testing of uncertified drugs on Belarusian children, and who will be held accountable for it? However, they tried to blame the journalist-investigator.
In August last year, the state-sponsored television channel “Belarus 1” aired a prime-time story accusing Satuka of writing commissioned articles. According to the station, hidden camera footage showed a businessman handing an envelope to a journalist. The businessman himself stated on air that he had allegedly hired the journalist to investigate corruption in the procurement of imported medical supplies by the Ministry of Health and had paid for such an article.
Sergei Satsuk wrote regularly about corruption, but attempts were made to hold him accountable as well. After the publication of the story about Satsuk, who has already published several articles about corrupt dealings by health officials, he explained in the non-government press why he does not take bribes, but also opened and published in the “Daily” an account to collect funds to support journalistic investigations.
About the need for such support more than half a year before the “tele-exposing” the journalist wrote in his magazine in an article titled “If you are tired of systemic corruption in Belarus”. “After the publication of the first of two articles on corruption, an unexpected person came to me, I won’t reveal his name yet. They told me directly: if I don’t stop, I will either be killed or imprisoned,” Satsuk said in the independent press.
As a result, “Ezhednevnik” stopped publishing articles about corruption in the health care system. But by that time, Belarus had already been rocked by the so-called “Doctor Case” – large-scale arrests and large sums of money paid in kickbacks for the supply of medical equipment, the promotion of certain drugs, and other abuses uncovered not by an investigative journalist but by law enforcement agencies. We explain quickly, simply, and clearly what happened, why it matters, and what will happen next. The number of offers should remain: episodes. End of story: Podcast Advertising.
On March 23, two days before his arrest, Sergei Satsuk published an article in “Ezhednevnik” (“Daily”) titled “Who is spreading panic about the coronavirus, the president or websites and channels?” in which he expressed doubts about the reliability of official statistics on the spread of the coronavirus in Belarus. According to the Belarus Ministry of Health, as of March 25, 86 cases of coronavirus infection have been registered in the country (and two cases are still under investigation); there have been no official deaths. However, social networks and the non-governmental press reported several cases of deaths that shocked the population and the prohibition of the relatives of the deceased to talk to journalists. President Lukashenko ordered the KGB to deal with those who publish such information, calling the publications fake.
“This very order, against the backdrop of the officially stable situation in the country, made it clear: it’s time to panic!” – Satsuk wrote in his article. “Mortality rate 0%, like nowhere else in the world. Of course, one could be happy about the efficiency of the Belarusian health system, but a reasonable question arises: has Belarus invented an effective medicine against coronavirus, which allows to completely avoid fatal cases? If so, why doesn’t anyone know about it, why don’t we share this advanced method with the whole world? – the journalist wondered, accusing the Belarusian authorities of hiding information.
Late on Wednesday evening, it became known that in the presence of lawyer Sergei Satsuk, they were interrogated as a suspect in a criminal case. The BelaPAN news agency, citing the wife of journalist Zhanna Satsuk, reports that a criminal case has been opened against the editor of “Ezhednevnik” under Article 430 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (receiving a bribe repeatedly, or by extortion, or by a group of persons by prior agreement, or on a large scale). Sergey Satsuk was detained for three days, but no official charges have been filed.