Further eroding situation of free media in Belarus - at the center of the attention of the Informal OSCE Group of Friends on Safety of Journalists
On February 24, 2021, the informal OSCE Group of Friends on Safety of Journalists, co-chaired by Lithuania and France, discussed the further eroding situation of free media in Belarus.
Repressions against journalists, bloggers and independent media as a whole in this OSCE participating State is not something new. However, since last summer, the scale of repression of free media, which exercised its function to report about the forged Presidential elections of August 9, 2020, and the protests that followed, has rose to unseen heights.
Criminal persecutions against journalists and other media actors for their professional activities, cancellation of accreditation for foreign journalists, revocation of media status of Belarus news outlet Tut.by, threats, and their increasing intimidation has pushed free Belarusian media to operate underground.
According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, there were 477 detentions of journalists and media actors in 2020. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against 15 media actors and 9 of them are currently remaining in custody. Among others, Belarusian blogger Ihar Losik is detained since June 25, 2020 for "preparing to disrupt public order" and Belsat journalists Katsyaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova were sentenced last week for 2 years in prison for broadcasting a violent dispersal during the protest in memory of Raman Bandarenka.
Therefore every support for the repressed journalists, bloggers and other media actors is needed more than ever to keep the independent voice in Belarus alive. And it is the moral obligation of the entire international community to stand by brave journalists of Belarus in these difficult days.
