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On Monday, March 22, Masty reporter of Hazeta Slonimskaya Yazep Palubiatka was summoned for questioning by the police. He entered the police station at 11 a.m. He did not return home that day.

Dzianis Ivashyn is the 11th journalist under arrest in Belarus. He was arrested on the evening of Friday 12 March in Grodno, in the west of the country. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its Belarusian affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), in calling for his immediate release and that of the other ten journalists detained in Belarus.

Journalist Dzianis Ivashyn was detained in his apartment at about 6 p.m. Before that, a blue minivan parked near the apartment block. The search of journalist Dzianis Ivashin ended late at night, Dzianis was placed in the KGB detention center. Now there are 10 journalists  behind bars in Belarus.

Belarus’ human rights situation has deteriorated further in recent weeks. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) believes this deterioration should be viewed in the context of the grave and systemic human rights violations the authorities committed in the run-up to the 2020 fraudulent presidential election and in its aftermath, for which there has been no accountability. The EFJ joins Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights and Article19 in demanding action by the UN Human Rights Council to establish a new mechanism assisting the process of accountability for human rights violations in Belarus.

The repression of journalists continues to intensify in Belarus, in a context of passivity on the part of the international community. On 2 March, at 4 p.m., the Moskovsky District Court of Minsk announced its verdict. It convicted TUT.BY journalist Katerina Borisevich and doctor Artem Sorokin. They are accused of disclosing medical secrets. Katerina Borisevich was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine, Artem Sorokin to two years in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) strongly condemns a court decision that violates press freedom and freedom of access to information. The EFJ once again calls on the international community to intervene to put an end to the repeated violations of the rule of law in Belarus.