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BAJ receives Canada-UK Media Freedom Award  This was announced during the Global Conference for Media Freedom 2020. In his remarks, Andrei Bastunets, chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, stressed that the Award reflects the high opinion of the work of Belarusian journalists who are now working in extremely difficult conditions. During the ceremony, Dominic Raab, First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the UK, pointed out that the Award is a fitting tribute to courage, sacrifice and determination of Belarusian journalists. Below are BAJ acceptance remarks during the Global Conference for Media Freedom 2020.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the awarding of the First Canada-UK Media Freedom Award to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ). BAJ was nominated for the award by the EFJ and International Media Support (IMS).

On November 15, the people of Belarus held protests and actions in memory of Raman Bandarenka, killed by unknown people in plain clothes. People in Minsk, regional centers and small towns took to the streets. In Minsk, the police did not allow people to gather on the central streets. Thousands of people came to the Square of Change (the popular name of the neighborhood, whose residents actively participate in the protests) in Minsk, where Raman Bandarenka had been killed. The drivers supported the protesters by honking their car horns. In the evening, the police surrounded the block and attacked the protesters using special weapons, many were taken away in police trucks. People were grabbed and beaten even in the nearby store. Police detained journalists covering teh protests in Minsk, Vitebsk, Hrodna and Pinsk. We know of 23 detentions of journalists.

In Slonim, investigators came with a search warrant to the founder of the independent Hazeta Slonimaskaya newspaper Hanna Valadashchuk.

On Saturday, freelance journalists Daria Chultsova and Ales Silich were detained. Silich was driving during detention. The police kept then in a cell of Partyzanski police department for three hours.

Journalist Nasta Zakharevich was detained in a flower shop near the GUM department store in Minsk. Previously, she was detained exactly 2 months ago and spent seven days behind bars.

The online Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), attended today by 53 delegates from journalists’ unions and associations from 38 European countries, expressed its full support for Belarusian journalists in the face of repression.

Belsat journalists Zmitser Soltan (Buyanau), Zmitser Krauchuk, and Artsiom Bahaslauski were detained yesterday when covering the March against Terror. Today they were recognized suspects in a criminal case under Article 342 of the Criminal Code.

On November 1, protesters marched to Kurapaty, where victims of Stalinist repression were executed and buried.  On the way to Kurapaty, the riot police dispersed the crowd many times. Many were arrested, journalists among them.

In the afternoon, TUT.BY had reports coming in about Belarusians having problems with getting back home from Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Latvia. Later the State Border Committee commented on the situation with border closures.

The democratic opposition in Belarus has won this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, European Parliament President David Sassoli announced today. The Sakharov Prize is awarded by the European Parliament every year in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) welcomes the award of the prize to the Belarusian opposition and recalls that six journalists are still in prison in Belarus just for doing their job.