The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has strongly condemned the sentencing of Belarusian journalist Ihar Ilyash to four years in prison and a fine of 4,200 rubles (about US$1,240), handed down by the Minsk City Court on September 16, 2025, on charges including promoting “extremist activities” and “discrediting the Republic of Belarus.”

The sentencing follows a prolonged trial that began in February 2025, during which the court repeatedly delayed proceedings. In one major delay, the court ordered a “psycholinguistic examination” of 15 of Ilyash’s analytical articles. These were analyzed by Siarhei Liebiadzinski, head of the Department of Russian as a Foreign Language at Belarusian State University, rather than through a standard state expertise center.

Ilyash, who was detained

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