Belarusian Association of Journalists

On 23 May, blogger Raman Pratasevich was detained by Belarusian security forces at Minsk National Airport, following the forced landing of a Ryanair passenger plane.

On 18 May, the Financial Investigation Department raided the homes of journalists working for the independent news portal TUT.BY and other outlets; the TUT.BY website was also blocked. The authorities have a history of targeting TUT.BY journalists.

Over 100 media representatives sign an open letter to the Belarusian authorities, calling for an end to the persecution of the press and reminding them of Belarusians’ constitutional right to freedom of expression.

Belarusian rights organizations call for the immediate release of journalist Dzianis Ivashyn and all political prisoners in Belarus, and for the political repression to end.

“Where violations prevail, the UN must take action. As such, it is essential that this Council puts greater accountability mechanisms in place to collect and preserve evidence of crimes under international law, and ultimately ensure that perpetrators are held accountable”.

Catarina Andreeva and Darja Chulcova, two journalists for Belsat, were each sentenced on 18 February to two years in prison for reporting live from an anti-government rally in Minsk in November.

During the six weeks following the presidential election over 170 journalists were detained. There were 52 cases where journalists faced beatings and damage to (or seizure of) their equipment. Two journalists were wounded.

Some journalists were released after document checks, others were charged with “participation in an unauthorised mass action”, one will be deported.