Exiled voices: German film sheds light on persecution of journalists, featuring Belarusians

The Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and Lawyers for Free­dom of Expres­sion (JAM e.V.), estab­lished in Decem­ber 2022 in Berlin, has released a doc­u­men­tary film, “Our Won­der­ful Past: Media Cap­ture and Jour­nal­ism in Exile.” The film fea­tures Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists Ales Liauchuk and Siarhei Bal­ai.

The 22-minute doc­u­men­tary by JAM e.V. exam­ines the sys­tem­at­ic sup­pres­sion of media and free­dom of expres­sion by author­i­tar­i­an regimes in Belarus, Turkey, and Rus­sia. Through inter­views with jour­nal­ists in exile, the film’s crew sought to con­vey their expe­ri­ences of per­se­cu­tion, the takeover of the inde­pen­dent press, and the work of jour­nal­ists who risk their lives to stand up for the truth.

Ales Liauchuk and Siarhei Bal­ai dis­cuss the harsh repres­sion of oppo­si­tion in Belarus under Pres­i­dent Ali­ak­san­dr Lukashen­ka and the sub­se­quent vio­lent crack­down fol­low­ing the 2020 pres­i­den­tial elec­tion, which result­ed in the com­plete shut­down of inde­pen­dent media out­lets.

The Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and Lawyers for Free­dom of Expres­sion is a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion ded­i­cat­ed to sup­port­ing jour­nal­ists in exile who have been forced to flee repres­sive regimes and author­i­tar­i­an envi­ron­ments. It pro­vides essen­tial legal and pro­fes­sion­al assis­tance, strength­ens ties, and helps inte­grate these coura­geous jour­nal­ists into the exist­ing media land­scape in Ger­many and through­out Europe.