EFJ and IFJ joined its affiliate BAJ in calling for Satsuk immediate release

The police con­firmed that Sat­suk was inter­ro­gat­ed as a sus­pect in a crim­i­nal case. Accord­ing to his rel­a­tives and friends, he is charged with receiv­ing bribes. He faces 3 to 10 years jail term.

Siarhei Sat­suk is known for his inves­tiga­tive work. His last high-pro­file inves­ti­ga­tion denounced sys­temic cor­rup­tion in the Belaru­sian Min­istry of Health. Late­ly, he crit­i­cised the government’s response to the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic.

In August 2019, Sat­suk told Bela­PAN that he had received threats because of his activ­i­ties. He said he was approached by an unknown per­son who con­veyed the fol­low­ing mes­sage: «if (he) did­n’t stop, (he) would be either killed, or jailed».

A few months ago, Sat­suk asked Euro­ra­dio to pub­lish a state­ment in the event of his arrest. In this text avail­able here, he describes the rea­sons for his pos­si­ble arrest and the numer­ous threats he has been receiv­ing in the past.

Siarhei Sat­suk is a mem­ber of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ). The Euro­pean and Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tions of Jour­nal­ists (EFJ/IFJ) joined its affil­i­ate BAJ in call­ing for Sat­suk imme­di­ate release and for the drop of all charges against him.

“The deten­tion of a well-known jour­nal­ist and sub­se­quent inter­ro­ga­tion of EJ’s staff can lead to the devel­op­ment of self-cen­sor­ship in the media cov­er­ing social issues, includ­ing cor­rup­tion and the spread of coro­n­avirus in Belarus,” BAJ react­ed.

«Siarhei Sat­suk must be freed, now. We sup­port him and all the jour­nal­ists in Belarus who are tar­get­ed by Belarus’ repres­sive pol­i­cy in the field of media free­dom. We expect a reac­tion from the Euro­pean Union,» the Fed­er­a­tions said.