Iryna Uladzimirawna Khalip is a Belarusian journalist, reporter and editor in the Minsk bureau of Novaya Gazeta, known for her criticism of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
23 Facts About Iryna Khalip
1.
2.
Iryna Khalip is married to former Belarus presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, an opposition activist and recipient of the 2005 Bruno Kreisky Award.
3.
Iryna Khalip was born on November 12,1967, in Minsk, a city in Belorussian SSR.
4.
Iryna Khalip graduated from Belarus State University with a focus in journalism studies in 1989.
5.
Iryna Khalip decided she wanted to become a full-time journalist in 1994, at age 26.
6.
Iryna Khalip quickly became known for restricting freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
7.
In 1997, Iryna Khalip was reporting at a rally that opposed Belarus unifying with Russia.
8.
Iryna Khalip was clubbed by riot police and dragged by her hair, and her father, who was with her at the rally, was beaten into unconsciousness.
9.
Iryna Khalip later went to work for the independent newspaper Imya.
10.
In 1999, the Belarusian government issued a warning to Imya over an article Iryna Khalip had written about the Central Electoral Committee's activities.
11.
In March 2000, Iryna Khalip was reporting on a Minsk demonstration protesting an official ban on a public march.
12.
Iryna Khalip was forced into a police vehicle and detained at an Interior Ministry facility in Minsk, along with 34 other journalists.
13.
At that point, Iryna Khalip had written multiple articles on corruption in the prosecutor's office for Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta.
14.
Iryna Khalip sent a text of her journalistic investigation to the Novaya Gazeta editorial office on Saturday, November 22,2009.
15.
Iryna Khalip had requested her husband, future presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, pick up Hennessy cognac at a shop.
16.
Later, on the way to the hospital to treat Sannikov's broken legs, their car was intercepted while Iryna Khalip was giving a telephone interview to the Moscow radio station Ekho Moskvy.
17.
Iryna Khalip screamed on air that they were being forcibly removed from their car, arrested, and beaten.
18.
Hours after the arrest, Iryna Khalip borrowed a mobile phone from another detainee and called her mother, asking her to take care of her young son.
19.
Iryna Khalip was not allowed to receive any correspondence, though she was allowed to talk with family members.
20.
Sixteen journalists and activists including Iryna Khalip still faced prosecution, all facing the possibility of 15 years in prison if their cases proceed to trial.
21.
On 16 May, 2011, Iryna Khalip was convicted of "organizing and preparing activities severely disruptive of public order" and given a suspended sentence of two years' imprisonment.
22.
In October 2009, Iryna Khalip was awarded the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation.
23.
Iryna Khalip is currently married to Andrei Sannikov, and has a son.