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MASS MEDIA IN BELARUS E-NEWSLETTER No.1 (68) 2022 January – April 2022 . Download PDF

MINSK -- A court in Minsk has sentenced sociologist Tatsyana Vadalaskaya to a lengthy prison sentence while prosecutors in another case have recommended a harsh sentence for journalist Aksana Kolb on charges related to protests against the disputed results of a presidential election in August 2020 that handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in power.

MINSK -- Four journalists from the banned BelaPAN news agency have gone on trial in Minsk as the Belarusian government continues to crack down on independent media following mass protests sparked by a disputed presidential election in August 2020 that handed victory to authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists demands an end to the crackdown on its members.

Journalists are not criminals! Five media representatives’ trials about to start in Belarus STATEMENT

MINSK -- RFE/RL correspondent Aleh Hruzdzilovich, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison by Belarusian authorities for allegedly participating in demonstrations that he says he was covering as a journalist, has been transferred to a penal colony in the country’s east.

Six Belarusian media workers have their court hearings scheduled for June. Andrei Aliaksandrau, Dzmitry Navazhylau, Iryna Leushyna, Aksana Kolb, Andrei Kuznechyk, Iryna Slaunikava, and Katsiaryna Andrejeva face from 3 to 15 years in prison. Below is a list of charges and hearings dates.

On May 26, in the village of Kryvichy (Iuje District), police detained journalist Ales Liubianchuk. 

The chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists says reporting is harder than ever because of government crackdowns and war in neighbouring Ukraine.

The Slovakia-based media-monitoring organization MEMO 98 has launched monitoring of Russian Federation state TV channels First Channel, Russia 1, Russia 24, NTV, online sources Smotrim.ru, gazeta.ru, news agencies Ria Novosti, Interfax, RBC, newspapers Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Argumenty i Fakty and independent international media to evaluate how those news outlets are covering the war in Ukraine and anti-war/peace protests. What does state media propaganda tell Russians about these topics, and how does it compare to the portrayal by independent media outside the country?

21 May is the Day of the Political Prisoner in Belarus.

On 18 May, KGB officers detained Kanstantsin Zalatykh, director of the Belorusy i Rynok newspaper, Yulia Kakhno, a bookkeeper of the newspaper, and Andrei Aleksandrovich, Belorusy i Rynok editor-in-chief.

Baranavichy journalist Yury Hantsarevich detained two weeks ago was charged with the facilitation of extremist activity and transferred to a remand prison, according to the sources of the Belarusian Association of Journalists.

A 23-year-old correspondent of Baranavichy-based Intex-Press has been criminally charged for facilitation of extremist activities (Article 361-4 of the Criminal Code), reports the pro-government Telegram channel ‘Obratnaya storona’.

Belarusian journalist Iryna Slaunikava has been in custody for six months. The former Belsat reporter and currently a staff member of Polish Television (TVP) is a political prisoner and will soon face trial. She is accused of committing crimes under two articles of the Criminal Code, informs Belsat.