EFJ welcomes the award of the Sakharov Prize to the democratic opposition in Belarus

Pic­ture cred­it: Euro­pean Par­lia­ment Protests erupt­ed in Belarus fol­low­ing a dis­put­ed pres­i­den­tial elec­tion in August that Alexan­der Lukashenko claimed to have won with 80 per­cent of the vote, lead­ing to a bru­tal crack­down from the author­i­ties, includ­ing the arrest of oppo­si­tion fig­ures and jour­nal­ists.

“They have stood and still stay strong in the face of a much stronger adver­sary. But they have on their side some­thing that brute force can nev­er defeat — and this is the truth,” Sas­soli said in a state­ment. He encour­aged the Belaru­sian oppo­si­tion to con­tin­ue their fight for free­dom, adding: “We are by your side.”

On the occa­sion of the award cer­e­mo­ny, EFJ and the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ) demand the imme­di­ate release of six jour­nal­ists still behind bars in Belarus:

• Ale­na Dow­nar

• Darya Spe­vak

• Vadz­im Zamirous­ki

• Use­val­ad Zaru­bin

• Art­sy­om Maio­rau

• Ales Lyubyanchuk

“Since the fraud­u­lent elec­tions of 9 August, there have been 292 cas­es of deten­tion of jour­nal­ists to pre­vent the press from cov­er­ing mass demon­stra­tions against elec­toral fraud and police vio­lence,” said EFJ Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Ricar­do Gutiér­rez. “The Belaru­sian judi­cia­ry is increas­ing the num­ber of admin­is­tra­tive sen­tences against jour­nal­ists. Some are unjust­ly sen­tenced to 10 to 15 days in prison for doing their job. This repres­sion must stop!”