ARTICLE 19’s message of solidarity with Belarusian journalists

ARTICLE 19’s message of solidarity with Belarusian journalists

13 April 2021

On the occa­sion of the Annu­al Con­gress of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists, I would like to express our sol­i­dar­i­ty with all the jour­nal­ists of Belarus, who con­tin­ue to car­ry out their vital work under extreme­ly chal­leng­ing cir­cum­stances. It is thanks to your courage and com­mit­ment that the world knows about the atroc­i­ties com­mit­ted by the Belaru­sian author­i­ties against their cit­i­zens pri­or to and in the after­math of the fraud­u­lent pres­i­den­tial elec­tions in August 2020.

Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists have already been work­ing in extreme­ly dif­fi­cult con­di­tions for over two decades, fac­ing per­se­cu­tion, deten­tion, and being forced out of their pro­fes­sion by intim­i­da­tion and threats, yet they have coura­geous­ly con­tin­ued their report­ing in spite of the risks asso­ci­at­ed with it. Our thoughts go to all jour­nal­ist col­leagues cur­rent­ly impris­oned in Belarus, includ­ing brave women jour­nal­ists Daria Chultso­va, Kat­siary­na Andree­va, Kat­siary­na Bary­se­vich, and jour­nal­ist Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau who used to work with us in Lon­don, and who we know as a com­mit­ted and pas­sion­ate pro­fes­sion­al. We will con­tin­ue to raise aware­ness about their sit­u­a­tion and advo­cate for their imme­di­ate release.

Dear Belaru­sian friends, your courage sets an exam­ple for all of us who defend free­dom of expres­sion across the globe. Your ded­i­ca­tion to the jour­nal­is­tic pro­fes­sion is inspir­ing, and ARTICLE 19 great­ly admires your deter­mi­na­tion to fight for press free­dom despite the risks you face. We can­not be there with you on this impor­tant day, but I would like you to know that we will always stand by your side, and by the side of the Belaru­sian peo­ple fight­ing for their rights. Thank you for all your incred­i­ble work, it is an hon­our to be among your part­ners.

Quinn McK­ew
Exec­u­tive Direc­tor
ARTICLE 19