Dzmitry Semchanka spoke about conversations with Marakau in 2020 and details of his persecution

Dzmitry Semchanka. Photo: Facebook

Journalist Dzmitry Semchanka from Mogilev worked for the ONT TV channel since 2009. In 2020, he headed the presidential pool — a group of journalists who covered official events related to Alexander Lukashenka. A turning point in his career was the 2020 presidential elections. Soon after them and the violent dispersal of protests, the journalist resigned from ONT, and in September he was punished with administrative arrest for participating in a protest march.

In late 2022, Semchanka was detained again, and after two terms of 15 days, he was charged under Article 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement to hatred).

In March 2023, Dzmitry was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He was released in July 2025, having served his full term. Two months later, he and his wife left the country.

What he told Marakau in 2020

Semchanka said in the podcast that his decision to resign had been brewing for a long time and did not come as a surprise to the management. Conflicts in the newsroom began as early as early summer 2020. At closed meetings with the channel's head Marat Marakau, the journalist spoke out against the chosen propaganda line.

Semchanka recalls how he tried to convey that state media only angered people with their lies:

«I even organized some meetings with the pool, with the TV channel's management. And I tried to convey how, what needed to be done. We were all in disagreement, everyone who was there at that moment.

(…) I said that with these lies you are making people angry, that we now need a national dialogue, we need to let people speak out, promise people something, create some so-called roadmap, so that people know what will happen.»

Semchanka recalls that when, during the "Belgazprombank case" in mid-June 2020, about one and a half hundred paintings from the bank's corporate collection were seized, he tried to convey the absurdity of the case to the then head of ONT, Marat Marakau:

«I say: why do this? People are laughing, they don't believe us. Well, and they tell me: "Dzmitry, you're not doing this." I say: "Well, others are doing it." They do it, and I work with them. And no one will say that he did it there, you work there — you're garbage. No one there distinguishes what exactly you did. Whether you did it or not.»

However, as the journalist claims, in response he only heard advice to "not escalate."

The final straw, according to Semchanka, was the first blood on the streets. "I told all journalists in advance: if someone dies right now, even one person (...), if blood is shed, then I won't be here. No matter what, I will leave."

How he talked to a security officer about repression

Semchanka recalls how, during his detention in September 2020, the head of the Main Directorate of Criminal Investigation came to him. The security officer, citing an order from above, demanded to find "who was raped with a truncheon like that, because you said [in an interview with Sobchak] that it happened."

After being released from administrative arrest, Semchanka, through lawyers and journalists, found a victim who had been taken from Akrestsina with terrible injuries after being raped with a truncheon in a police van. Together with the victim's lawyer, Semchanka went to a meeting at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

«We had such a "round table" with him. And we talked there. (...) [The lawyer] placed these documents on the table. She said: "Here he was detained there and there, brought to Akrestsina, from Akrestsina he was already taken to intensive care. That is, he could not have received these injuries anywhere else." (...)

And he says: "Couldn't he have received these injuries beforehand?" She says: "Three ruptures of the rectum. Three ruptures. The person is disabled for life."

Semchanka said that he himself provided examples of violence against protesters. According to him, the victims were ready to testify.

«He says: "What should I do? Come to the riot police base and say: 'You, you, you are arrested'?" I say: "Well, if it's the law, and if you're an officer, then you must act according to the law. If it's not done according to the law, if a person gets injured after being detained, if he doesn't resist."

He says: "Yes, this is not according to the law." I say: "Well, then why aren't you doing what you're supposed to do?" He says: "Well, then they won't disperse protests."

Details of the criminal case

As Dzmitry recounts, the criminal case against him was built on three social media posts: outrage over the actions of Mikalai Karpiankou in the "O'Petit" cafe, where the security officer smashed a display with a truncheon, a memorial post for Raman Bandarenka, and condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Interestingly, the State Forensic Examination Committee, after linguistic and psychological examinations, found no elements of a crime in his words.

«They wrote that there were no calls, no insults specifically against employees, and no singling out of any specific group. The text is critical in nature, but does not contain elements of a crime in a criminal sense.

And the investigator who came to me says: "Dzmitry, I went to my superiors, I say that here came an expertise for Semchanka, one, two, three, four and so on. And not a single one gives grounds to bring this case to court." They told him: "Everything will be fine. Bring it to court. We will give you a new expertise, we will give you some certificate, everything will be there."

As a result, an opinion from an anonymous expert appeared in the materials, who wrote everything required for the charge of "incitement to hatred" against security forces.

Why he had to leave

Answering the question of whether he had thoughts of staying in Belarus after his release, Dzmitry explains that upon leaving the penal colony, he found himself in a situation of "civil death."

Inclusion on the list of terrorists blocked his access to basic services. He could not open a bank account or even register a SIM card.

The journalist recalls trying to get insurance to obtain a visa:

«The woman took my passport, entered the data, and ran off to make a call. And on her monitor screen, it showed that this person is a terrorist, immediately contact security. She ran to call someone, asking what she should do at all. And she says: "I can't issue anything for you, absolutely nothing."

The former journalist emphasizes that after his dismissal from ONT, he did not seek to return to the profession and successfully worked as a PR director in private business. But after his imprisonment, the situation changed; he was "deprived of the opportunity to even think about how to feed his family."

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