Journalist Threatened after Writing an Article about Presumed Pedophile

The journalist for TUT.by Katsiaryna Siniuk received a threatening SMS after the portal published an article about a criminal case being handled over a businessman possibly involved in debauchery of youth.

“Hello from “Davydovich’s boys”. We will soon talk to you informally in an unexpected place. Are you sleeping well?” The SMS was sent from the website of the mobile operator.

“The phone has been ringing every five minutes since the article was published. There were many phone calls from unknown and hidden numbers. The SMS was sent at midday from the Internet. So I even have no one to answer to,” said the journalist.

The article told about Viachaslau Davydovich, former head of an international charity fund. He is now facing charges over illegal entrepreneurs’ activities bringing large profit. According to the investigative report on TUT.by, the police’s department on counteracting drugs trafficking and human trafficking has information about Davydovich’s sexual relations with under-aged boys. However, the Investigative Committee did not initiate a criminal case in this regard, because the acting criminal law punishes only sexual relations with children before 16 years of age.

“According to the testimonies that we have, the young people were not subject to any violent actions,” said the head of the police’s department Mikalai Karpiankou.