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  • BAJ Statement on the occasion of the International Day of Journalists’ Solidarity

    The Belarusian Association of Journalists expresses words of solidarity with our prosecuted colleagues and calls for solidarity to the civil society, international organizations and everyone who shares the values of truthful and unbiased journalism.

     

    State­ment of the pub­lic asso­ci­a­tion “Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists”

    On Sep­tem­ber 8, the Inter­na­tion­al Day of Jour­nal­ists’ sol­i­dar­i­ty is marked world­wide.

    This year, jour­nal­ists of Belaru­sian non-state mass media are still faced with per­se­cu­tion from the author­i­ties, with the cul­mi­na­tion of repres­sions being the so-called “BelTA case”.

    The Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee named ten our col­leagues as sus­pects in the case: Ulyana Babayed, Pauliuk Bykows­ki, Dzmit­ry Bobryk, Han­na Yer­ma­chonak, Mary­na Zolata­va, Han­na Kalty­hi­na, Tat­siana Kar­a­vianko­va, Iry­na Leushy­na, Hali­na Ulasik, Alyak­sei Zhukau.

    In August, the jour­nal­ists went through search­es in edi­to­r­i­al offices and at home, seizure of equip­ment, unground­ed deten­tions, arrests, and now are banned from leav­ing Belarus. Many oth­er media work­ers were also searched and ques­tioned.

    Also, this year, the author­i­ties staged the record judi­cial pros­e­cu­tion of jour­nal­ists who con­tribute to the TV chan­nel Bel­sat and the Belaru­sian Radio Racy­ja. Since the start of 2018, Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists, whose right to gath­er, store and dis­sem­i­nate infor­ma­tion is guar­an­teed by the Con­sti­tu­tion, got fined over 70 times for coop­er­a­tion with for­eign mass media with­out accred­i­ta­tion to the total sum of over 60 thou­sand rubles.

    Despite all these cir­cum­stances, non-state mass media in Belarus keep being the source of accu­rate, time­ly and ver­i­fied infor­ma­tion. Jour­nal­ists of non-state mass media raise the most acute social issues that are hard­ly ever cov­ered in state press.

    That is why today the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists express­es sol­i­dar­i­ty with our col­leagues.

    We appeal to the civ­il soci­ety, polit­i­cal par­ties, the inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty, all col­leagues and cit­i­zens who share the val­ues of truth­ful and unbi­ased jour­nal­ism to sup­port the media.

    Solidarity is our strength!
    #у_салідарнасці_сіла

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