Journalists are not criminals: Solidarity marathon for imprisoned reporters reaches Italy’s major cities
Human rights activist Leanid Sudalenka and the Community of Belarusians in Italy took part in the BAJ marathon of solidarity with imprisoned Belarusian journalists.
At the invitation of Amnesty International Italy, Leanid Sudalenka undertook a week-long human rights tour of the Mediterranean country. During the trip, the human rights defender visited Milan, Padua, Genoa, Rome, Naples, Catania, and Palermo. The visit continued contacts between Belarusian and Italian human rights defenders, which began in 2015.
This time, Leanid Sudalenka spoke in the most prominent Italian cities about the human rights situation in Belarus and political repression, including against the media community.
On October 21, Leanid Sudalenka participated in a public debate at the University of Padua, where he spoke about imprisoned Nobel laureate Ales Bialiatski.
The human rights activist recalled that less than 100 years ago, the first European Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Carl von Ossietzky, was tortured to death in a prison in Nazi Germany. Today, history repeats itself in another European country, Belarus, where the Nobel laureate is imprisoned for the fourth year.
On October 22, a public discussion on Belarusian political prisoners was held in Rome.
“First, I went straight to the Colosseum to take selfies with the portraits of my friends at the famous historical site, and then I visited the Pope and asked him to pay attention to what happens in Belarus,” said Leanid Sudalenka.
On October 24, Leanid Sudalenka arrived in Catania.
A week earlier, Massimiliano Coccia, a journalist with the Italian newspaper linkiesta.it, became a symbolic patron of Valeryia Kastsiuhova, founder and editor of the website of the expert community Nashe Mnenie, editor and author of Belorussky Ezhegodnik, and head of the expert monitoring group Belarus in Focus.
BAJ calls on journalists around the world to support the solidarity action! You can print portraits of imprisoned Belarusian media workers, take pictures with them in outstanding places in your city (outside Belarus), and post them on social media using the hashtags #СвабодуЖурналістам and #BecauseTheJournalist. Don’t forget to send them to office@baj.media or intercomm@baj.media.