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PEN Belarus, along with the human rights and cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ty, strong­ly con­demns the cur­rent large-scale repres­sion tar­get­ing inde­pen­dent pub­lish­ers, book dis­trib­u­tors, and cul­tur­al organ­i­sa­tions in Belarus. These actions clear­ly aim to dis­man­tle the Belaru­sian pub­lish­ing infra­struc­ture and crim­i­nalise legit­i­mate cul­tur­al activ­i­ties.

Attacks through judi­cial and/or eco­nom­ic mech­a­nisms remain the main method of pres­sure on jour­nal­ists — they account for 95% of all record­ed inci­dents.

The IPI glob­al net­work today con­demns the accel­er­a­tion of repres­sion against inde­pen­dent media in Belarus after five more jour­nal­ists were sen­tenced to prison on polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed charges in just over one week.

In recent days, sev­er­al jour­nal­ists in Belarus have been sen­tenced to impris­on­ment. The ver­dicts in cas­es against jour­nal­ists are shock­ing: 9, 12, and 14 years in prison.

Min­sk City Court on March 6 announced a ver­dict for polit­i­cal pris­on­er and jour­nal­ist Pavel Dabravol­s­ki. He was con­vict­ed of “high trea­son”.

On March 4, Min­sk City Court announced a ver­dict for musi­cian, researcher, and radio host Aleh Khamen­ka. He was found guilty of “facil­i­tat­ing extrem­ist activ­i­ties.”

Belaru­sian court sen­tences 2 jour­nal­ists to 14, 12 years in prison, heavy fines. Belaru­sian author­i­ties should imme­di­ate­ly release jour­nal­ists Uladz­imir Yanuke­vich and Andrei Pakalen­ka, and stop jail­ing jour­nal­ists for their work, said the Com­mit­tee to Pro­tect Jour­nal­ists. 

A sur­vey con­duct­ed by the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ) in Feb­ru­ary iden­ti­fied the top needs of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists and media work­ers who were recent­ly released after fac­ing crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion.

On Feb­ru­ary 26, 2026, the Brest Region­al Court announced sen­tences for the for­mer heads of the Baranavichy news por­tal BAR24 and, pre­vi­ous­ly, the inde­pen­dent news­pa­per Intex-Press: Uladz­imir Yanuke­vich and Andrei Pakalen­ka.

Rus­si­a’s full-scale war against Ukraine has been ongo­ing for four years. Accord­ing to BAJ part­ners at the Nation­al Union of Jour­nal­ists of Ukraine (NUJU), since the start of the full-scale inva­sion, Russ­ian aggres­sors have killed at least 144 media work­ers.

Mass media in Belarus in Octo­ber – Decem­ber 2025. Review. Down­load PDF.

Han­na Plakhat­niuk, a jour­nal­ist and pro­pa­gan­dist known for her close ties to secu­ri­ty agen­cies, has been appoint­ed head of Homel City Radio. Her appoint­ment was approved by the head of the region­al exec­u­tive com­mit­tee.

The fol­low­ing jour­nal­ists are in jail at the moment. Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau, Dzia­n­is Ivashyn, Andrej Pachobut (Andrzej Poc­zobut), Liud­mi­la Chek­ina,  Dzmit­ryi Navazhy­lau,  Siarhei Sat­suk,  Andrei Famin,  Ales Sabaleus­ki, Ali­ak­san­dr Ihnat­siuk Yauhen Hlushk­ou Vol­ha Radzivon­a­va Anton Kazel­s­ki Dami­il Palian­s­ki, Ihar Ilyash Siarhei Chabot­s­ka Work­ers of the Intex-press edi­to­r­i­al office Pali­na Pitke­vich Pavel Dabravol­s­ki Kiryl Paz­ni­ak Aleh Khamen­ka 

Polit­i­cal pris­on­er and jour­nal­ist Pavel Dabravol­s­ki is charged with “high trea­son”. He faces up to 15 years impris­on­ment.

In sol­i­dar­i­ty with impris­oned jour­nal­ist Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau, writer Mar­garet Atwood, Thurston Moore of Son­ic Youth, Nadya of Pussy Riot, and Sir Trevor Phillips joined togeth­er to read a poem Andrei wrote in July 2021 while in a pre-tri­al deten­tion cen­ter.