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VIENNA, 24 June 2021 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, today stated that the recently adopted laws in Belarus seriously contradict international human rights standards on freedom of expression and freedom of the media, including the OSCE commitments of the country.

The Investigative Committee reversed its decision to drop the charges under Article 342 "Organizing and preparing activities that breach public order or active participation in them" against translator Volha Kalatskaya. Ms. Kalatskaya will be prosecuted again. She is currently serving a two-year sentence of probation.

The Ministry of Justice has started a monitoring of the activities of the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The letter that BAJ received on Monday morning requires the NGO to present thousands of papers dated since January 1, 2018 to the Ministry's Non-profit organizations department. When we speak of thousands of documents, we really mean it.

Political prisoner Andrzej Paczobut has got Covid-19 and needs to be urgently taken to hospital His wife Aksana says he also has heart problems. He used to often lose consciousness, and Aksana is really concerned about his health now, as there is no proper medical care in jail.

BAJ letter with the request to hospitalize political prisoner, journalist Andrzej Paczobut, who has got Covid-19 in jail, and also has heart problems, was sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Health Care, the Department of Corrections and its structural subdivisions — Minsk and Minsk region office, and Zhodzina prison number 8, where the journalist is kept.

At the beginning of the briefing, it was stated that "Mr. Pratasevich wanted to talk to the media, and we found a legal way to do that."  Recalled, Raman is being held in jail.

The hijacking of a plane and kidnapping of editor and blogger Raman Pratasevich is viewed by the free expression, press freedom and journalists’ community as the outrageous climax of a broader campaign against media freedom in Belarus that drastically intensified after the August 2020 election. Free Press Unlimited co-wrote a joint call to make respect for press freedom a cornerstone of all demands towards Belarus.

 The Justice for Journalists Foundation and its Media Risk Map partners monitoring attacks on media workers in the post-Soviet space call on international organisations and governments of all countries to do their utmost to secure the early release of all incarcerated media workers and to end the barbaric violations of their rights. According to the JFJ’s experts, at least 84 media workers from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Crimea, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are awaiting trial in detention or under house arrests, or have already been sentenced to long-term imprisonment and are held in prisons and prison camps.  Доклад Фонда «Справедливость для журналистов» о атаках на медиаработников в Беларуси

Minsk, 3 June. Sports journalists Aliaksandr Ivulin and Jaraslaŭ Pisarenka were arrested in Minsk on Thursday, according to media reports.

Minsk, 3 June. Popular TV host, actor and singer Dzianis Dudzinski and his wife, Kaciaryna Rajeckaja, were questioned by officers of the State Control Committee’s Department for Financial Investigations on Wednesday.

Andrzej Poczobut, a political prisoner and member of the Union of Poles in Belarus, is reportedly being deprived of necessary medicines behind bars.

 The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, urged today the public authorities in Belarus to free all journalists and other media workers who have been sentenced, arrested or detained in the country. Most of these journalists were apprehended for their reporting on public events and other political developments in the country, reports OSCE.

On Tuesday morning, Belsat got information about more cases of apprehending Belarusian media workers.

On May 28 police detained Hlafira Zhuk, a journalist from Minsk. Next evening, she was found in the Maskouski district police department, charged with violation of an Administrative Code. Later the journalist was transferred to Akrestsina detention center. On May 31 Maskouski district court of Minsk sentenced Ms Zhuk to 30 days of jail.