IFJ and EFJ demand the release of jailed journalists on the 4th anniversary of the fraudulent elections

The Inter­na­tion­al and the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affil­i­ate, the Belaru­sian Jour­nal­ists’ Asso­ci­a­tion (BAJ), in call­ing on the regime to release all jour­nal­ists and media work­ers behind bars. The Fed­er­a­tions also urge the author­i­ties to stop their harass­ment of exiled jour­nal­ists, includ­ing raid­ing their res­i­dences and caus­ing dis­tress to their fam­i­lies to exert lever­age on them.

Pho­to: BAJ

Today, 9 August 2024, marks four years since the fraud­u­lent pres­i­den­tial elec­tion took place in Belarus, which inten­si­fied the crack­down on jour­nal­ists, inde­pen­dent media and trade unions to crush free speech and polit­i­cal oppo­si­tion by Alek­san­dr Lukashenko’s regime.

Four years after Lukashenko was self-declared the win­ner of the fraud­u­lent pres­i­den­tial elec­tion and the sup­pres­sion of peace­ful demon­stra­tions with extreme bru­tal­i­ty, repres­sion against jour­nal­ists and civ­il soci­ety has become worse in Belarus. In March 2023, the IFJ-EFJ affil­i­ate in the coun­try, BAJ, was labelled an ‘extrem­ist’ group by the regime, mean­ing that any­one who engaged in its activ­i­ties could face up to 10 years in jail. The BAJ is the only inde­pen­dent and rep­re­sen­ta­tive organ­i­sa­tion of jour­nal­ists and media work­ers in the coun­try. 

37 jour­nal­ists and media work­ers remain behind bars

Accord­ing to BAJ’s data, 37 jour­nal­ists and media work­ers, – 10 women and 27 men – are impris­oned in Belarus. The country’s courts con­tin­ue to impose long sen­tences on those who dare to speak up against the regime or who devi­ate from the offi­cial nar­ra­tive. They are labelled ‘extrem­ists’ – and clear­ly tar­get­ed because of their jour­nal­is­tic work. 

Among the most noto­ri­ous cas­es is that of Mary­na Zolata­va and Lud­mi­la Chek­ina, edi­tor-in-chief and man­ag­er of inde­pen­dent media tut.by, who were sen­tenced to twelve years in jail in March 2023 in a ‘closed-doors’ tri­al. Zolata­va was con­vict­ed of “incit­ing social hatred” and cre­at­ing “dis­sem­i­nat­ing con­tent call­ing for actions under­min­ing nation­al secu­ri­ty”, while Chek­ina was charged of “tax eva­sion”, “organ­is­ing incite­ment of social hatred” and “dis­sem­i­nat­ing con­tent call­ing for actions under­min­ing nation­al secu­ri­ty”. Both have been behind bars since 18 May 2021, when law enforcers raid­ed the media office and detained numer­ous staff mem­bers.

In the same line, Bel­sat TV cor­re­spon­dent Kat­siary­na Andreye­vawas con­vict­ed of trea­son in June 2022 and is serv­ing a prison sen­tence of eight years. Andreye­va was detained in Novem­ber 2020 while livestream­ing a peace­ful protest in Min­sk against Lukashenko’s con­tin­ued rule. The jour­nal­ist was serv­ing a two-year jail term for “organ­is­ing an ille­gal protest” and was due to be released on 5 Sep­tem­ber, 2022.

Jour­nal­ist Larysa Shchyrako­va was sen­tenced to three years and a half in a gen­er­al-secu­ri­ty penal colony on 31 August, 2023. Shchyrako­va was accused of dis­cred­it­ing Belarus, and of pro­mot­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ties, under the form of alleged­ly dis­sem­i­nat­ing dis­in­for­ma­tion online. The jour­nal­ist has been behind bars since 6 Decem­ber 2022, when the author­i­ties ordered a home search.

These are only four sto­ries of the 37 jour­nal­ists and media work­ers that are behind bars in Belarus. 

Increased harass­ment against exiled jour­nal­ists

In August, the BAJ denounced grow­ing raids by the police on the res­i­dences of exiled jour­nal­ists. A tac­tic designed to exert lever­age on jour­nal­ists, who were forced to flee the coun­try, through pres­sur­ing their fam­i­lies. On 16 May, author­i­ties searched the home of exiled BAJ’s deputy chair­per­son, Barys Haret­s­ki, and opened a crim­i­nal case against him. The union also warned about the con­fis­ca­tion of jour­nal­ist Dzmit­ry Kazakevic’s apart­ment by the State, which will be sold as “com­pen­sa­tion for dam­age caused by sanc­tions”. The IFJ and the EFJ demand the Belarus author­i­ties aban­don these repres­sive tac­tics. Jour­nal­ists’ unions the world over stand in sol­i­dar­i­ty with jour­nal­ists, who have been forced into exile.  

BAJ chair­per­son Andrei Bas­tunets said: “37 jour­nal­ists are behind bars. That’s not just a num­ber to lots of peo­ple, but I know almost all of them. Many of them are my friends. I could not even imag­ine in my worst dreams that so many of my acquain­tances and col­leagues would end up in pris­ons and colonies. Even four years after the protests were crushed, repres­sion con­tin­ues unabat­ed […]. 

“Cur­rent­ly, there are ten women jour­nal­ists behind bars in Belarus. Kse­nia Lut­ski­na – 8 years in prison, Mari­na Zolo­to­va – 12 years, Lyud­mi­la Chek­ina – 12 years, Vale­ria Kostyu­go­va – 10 years, Iri­na Lev­shi­na – 4 years, Iri­na Slavniko­va – 5 years, Kate­ri­na Andree­va – 8 years and 3 months in prison, Lar­isa Shchiryako­va – 3.5 years, Ele­na Tim­o­shchuk – 5 years, Anas­ta­sia Matyash – 2 years in prison. Jour­nal­ists are not crim­i­nals. They pay with their per­son­al free­dom for every­one’s free­dom of expres­sion,” Bas­tunets con­clud­ed.

The IFJ and the EFJ said: “Lukashenko’s regime has been crush­ing free speech and strip­ping jour­nal­ists of their free­dom for too long. We demand the imme­di­ate and uncon­di­tion­al release of our unjust­ly impris­oned col­leagues, and express our sol­i­dar­i­ty with those who were forced to flee their coun­try and still have to live in fear abroad. Belaru­sian author­i­ties must stop harass­ing and intim­i­dat­ing jour­nal­ists”.
The glob­al trade union move­ment expressed its sol­i­dar­i­ty with work­ers in Belarus and urged gov­ern­ments and employ­ers to help put an end to human and trade union vio­la­tions in the coun­try.