VOICES festival participants in Zagreb show solidarity with imprisoned Belarusian journalists

On Fri­day, as part of the VOICES jour­nal­ism fes­ti­val in Croa­t­ia, a screen­ing of Under the Gray Sky, a film by Belaru­sian direc­tor Mara Tamkovich, took place. The film, cur­rent­ly tour­ing inter­na­tion­al film fes­ti­vals, tells the sto­ry of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and Darya Chultso­va, who were sen­tenced for cov­er­ing protests on Square of Changes in Min­sk.

Direc­tor Mara Tamkovich meets with view­ers at VOICES Fes­ti­val, 28 Feb­ru­ary 2025, Zagreb. Pho­to: BAJ

Fol­low­ing the screen­ing, direc­tor Mara Tamkovich met with the audi­ence and answered ques­tions about the real­i­ties of work­ing in Belaru­sian media, the human rights sit­u­a­tion, and the fate of Kat­siary­na Andreye­va and her hus­band, Ihar Ilyash, who is cur­rent­ly on tri­al in Min­sk.

“Ihar Ilyash is now on tri­al in Min­sk. Kat­siary­na Andreye­va remains behind bars. Despite the inten­si­ty of glob­al events, we must stay focused on this issue and not allow the world to for­get about Belaru­sian pris­on­ers of con­science,” said Tamkovich.

VOICES fes­ti­val par­tic­i­pants in Zagreb show sol­i­dar­i­ty with impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists. Feb­ru­ary 28, 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

After the screen­ing, atten­dees expressed sol­i­dar­i­ty with impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists by tak­ing a col­lec­tive pho­to hold­ing their por­traits as part of the Sol­i­dar­i­ty Marathon cam­paign orga­nized by the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ). The cam­paign has already reached over 30 coun­tries.

BAJ calls on jour­nal­ists world­wide to sup­port this sol­i­dar­i­ty ini­tia­tive! Print por­traits of impris­oned jour­nal­ists, take pho­tos with them in your cities, and share them on social media with the hash­tags #СвабодуЖурналістам and #BecauseThe­Jour­nal­ist. Please send your pho­tos to office@baj.media or intercomm@baj.media.