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Statement on the criminal prosecution of Ales Lipai, director of the BelaPAN news agency, and pressure on journalists in Belarus

Volha Czajczyc and Andrei Kozel will lose their property if they do not pay fines for professional activities within two weeks. Court officers have threatened our colleagues with social welfare agencies.

The agency’s website noted that the decision to block was taken in accordance with the written notification of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade, guided by articles 38, 511 of the law “On Mass Media”.

Representatives of the Belarusian Association of Journalists visited Brussels to meet the European Parliamnet's Sub-Committee on Human Rights and talk about the situation of the media and freedom of expression in Belarus; they also had a series of meetings with European diplomats. Also, BAJ members took part in the round table with the International Federation of Journalists and European Federation of Journalists. The main topic was the challenges faced by Belarusian journalists.

VIENNA, 18 June 2018 – OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir today expressed concern following the adoption of legislative amendments in Belarus which further restrict media activities in the country. The amendments affect the work of national mass media, internet resources, and foreign media outlets.

Belarus' Chamber of Representatives adopted amendments to the law on mass media in the second reading, TUT.BY reports. 97 MPs supported the bill, Alena Anisim abstained, and Hanna Kanapatskaya did not vote.

Ales Lipai, head of the Belarusian independent news agency BelaPAN , is suspected of tax evasion. Tut.by learned that from Yuri Kardymon, the spokesman of the State Control Committee's Department for Financial Investigations.  Lipai was released after questioning in the Department's office.  The interrogation lasted about two and a half hours.

Belarusian Association of Journalists got hold of an updated bill amending the law on mass media, prepared for the second reading by the Chamber of Representatives.

The State Control Committee's Department of Financial Investigations is conducting investigative procedures.

25-30-year-olds are taking the lead in newsrooms and management of media outlets.  They are  the people of different mind frame. Their values and ideas are different from those of the generation who created the independent media of modern Belarus. Journalist Alexander Burakou discusses the generation gap and why those the fighters for the freedom of speech of the 1990s have lost.

The 2018 Free Media Awards are awarded to Chai Khana in South-Caucasus for their efforts to bring attention to under-reported news stories spanning national borders in the region, Fontanka in Russia for their coverage of ongoing and forgotten conflicts, and to the Belarussian website Belarus Partisan for their tireless investigative work, also following the murder of their editor-in-chief in 2016.

The 2018 Free Media Awards are awarded to Chai Khana in South-Caucasus for their efforts to bring attention to under-reported news stories spanning national borders in the region, Fontanka in Russia for their coverage of ongoing and forgotten conflicts, and to the Belarussian website Belarus Partisan for their tireless investigative work, also following the murder of their editor-in-chief in 2016.

Within a few days, the police have filed a number of reports against freelance journalists for working without accreditation. Some are already punished with heavy fines for cooperation with foreign media without accreditation.

Within a few days, the police have filed a number of reports against freelance journalists for working without accreditation. Some are already punished with heavy fines for cooperation with foreign media without accreditation.

 May 23, Mahiliou organization of BAJ addressed Mahiliou regional executive committee, Mahiliou city authorities and the city police department.