Archive

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.

On October 20, 2020, the Central Court of Minsk declared the NEXTA-Live Telegram channel and the NEXTA logo extremist.

Their cases were heard by Kastrychnitski district court of Minsk. On October 17 and 18, Daria Spevak (Onliner), Vadzim Zamirousk and Usevalad Zarubin (Belapan and TUT.by), as well as Artsiom Mayorau (Belarusians and Market) were detained and "taken to the police department for an ID check".

The report was prepared by the following human rights organizations: Human Rights Centre"Viasna", the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee and in cooperation with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).

On October 11, at least 40 journalists were detained in Belarus. The police detained journalists even before the protesters gathered in the streets.

In Homel, journalist of the local portal Silnye Novosti (Strong News) was tried. However, neither her family, not colleagues who had been keeping vigil in the court building for two days, were able to come to her trial.  Nadzeya Puzhynskaya was sentenced to 14 days of jail.