BAJ and media outlets demand TO STOP the persecution of journalists and end restrictions on freedom of expression

Dur­ing just two days, June 19 and 20, at least 14 jour­nal­ists were arrest­ed in Belarus while per­form­ing their pro­fes­sion­al duties.

More­over, most of the reporters not only had press IDs, as required by the law on mass media, and were ready to present them on demand, but were also clear­ly marked as media staff (with press vests and badges).

Some of the arrest­ed jour­nal­ists, in par­tic­u­lar, Alexan­der Paz­ni­ak and Siarhei Bahrou in Hantsavichy, were beat­en. More­over, often the police offi­cers attacked (it is dif­fi­cult to find anoth­er word) jour­nal­ists when they were livestream­ing, and vio­la­tions of jour­nal­ists’ rights were obvi­ous.

We call atten­tion to the fact that arti­cle 34 of the Law «On Mass Media» enti­tles jour­nal­ists per­form­ing pro­fes­sion­al duties to be present, as deter­mined by the rules estab­lished by the law, at mass actions and in places of oth­er pub­lic impor­tant events, and impart infor­ma­tion (p.2.2.). The detained jour­nal­ists fol­lowed the require­ments of the law — in con­trast to the law enforce­ment offi­cers who gross­ly vio­lat­ed their rights.

These events have become the quin­tes­sence of restric­tions on the right to receive and dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion and free­dom of expres­sion enshrined in the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Repub­lic of Belarus. Recent­ly, jour­nal­ists and mass media are con­stant­ly banned from attend­ing meet­ings of state bod­ies, denied offi­cial infor­ma­tion on issues that are impor­tant for soci­ety (the pan­dem­ic and elec­tions), harassed by fines and threats from state agen­cies (includ­ing threats to deprive the media and jour­nal­ists of accred­i­ta­tion), and detained. 

 We demand from the com­pe­tent state author­i­ties:

- to strict­ly observe arti­cles 33 and 34 of the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Repub­lic of Belarus, which guar­an­tee free­dom of expres­sion, pro­hi­bi­tion of cen­sor­ship, and the right to receive and dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion;

- to stop per­se­cu­tion of non-state media jour­nal­ists, free­lancers and for­eign media jour­nal­ists for per­form­ing their pro­fes­sion­al duties;

- to ensure equal treat­ment in terms of accred­i­ta­tion, pro­vi­sion of infor­ma­tion and strict com­pli­ance with arti­cle 13 of the Con­sti­tu­tion of the Repub­lic of Belarus, which guar­an­tees every­one equal rights and equal oppor­tu­ni­ties for the free use of tal­ent and prop­er­ty for busi­ness and oth­er eco­nom­ic activ­i­ties not pro­hib­it­ed by law;

- to stop divid­ing mass media into state and non-state, favored and dis­fa­vored, con­ve­nient and incon­ve­nient while ensur­ing the right to access and dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion, as stip­u­lat­ed in arti­cles 13, 33, and 34 of the Con­sti­tu­tion;

- to stop obstruct­ing the legit­i­mate pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ties of jour­nal­ists; and

- to make legal assess­ment of the actions of law enforce­ment agen­cies’ rep­re­sen­ta­tives who detained jour­nal­ists and obstruct­ed their activ­i­ties and to hold them account­able under arti­cle 198 of the Crim­i­nal code, which estab­lish­es respon­si­bil­i­ty for any form of obstruct­ing the law­ful pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ties of a jour­nal­ist or forc­ing jour­nal­ists to dis­sem­i­nate or refuse to dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion, com­mit­ted with the use of vio­lence or with the threat of its use, destruc­tion or dam­age to prop­er­ty, infringe­ment of the rights and legit­i­mate inter­ests of a jour­nal­ist.

Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists
Bela­PAN news agency
RFE/RL
TUT.BY
Nar­o­d­naya Volya
CityDog.by
Novy Chas
Nasha Niva
Kom­so­mol­skaya Prav­da v Belarusi
Rehiyanal­naya Haze­ta
Sal­i­dar­nasts
Belarus­Par­ti­san
Hrodna.life
Brest­skaya Gaze­ta
Euro­pean Radio for Belarus
Bel­gaze­ta
REFORM.by​
By.tribuna.com
Onliner.by
Flagshtok.info
Bel­sat TV
dev.by
Media-polesye.by
Asso­ci­a­tion of Region­al Press Pub­lish­ers
Barysauskiya Naviny
Gantsav­it­s­ki Chas
Uzho­rak
Infa-Kury­er
Intex-press
ex-press.by
Vol­naye Gly­bokaye
Viach­erni Babruysk
Nasha Slo­va
Inform-Prag­ul­ka
Gaze­ta Slon­um­skaya
Babruys­ki Kury­er
Gomel today
Haroshak.by
Belaru­sian Pub­lic Asso­ci­a­tion of Pho­tog­ra­phers
Znyata.com
Pressball.by
Press-club Belarus
Gorod214.by
Afn.by
Infobank.by
Vit­sieb­s­ki Kury­er news
Ezhed­nevnik
Mogilev.online
Belaru­sian Radio Racy­ja

Kraj.by
Lid­er-press
“Cen­tre for infor­ma­tion­al sup­port of pub­lic ini­tia­tives “The Third sec­tor”
MSPRING.ONLINE 
Greenbelarus.org
Belarusy i rynok
6tv.by