Helsinki Media Museum unseals boxes filled with postcards for imprisoned Belarusian journalists

The Finnish mes­sages to the impris­oned jour­nal­ists will be trans­lat­ed into Belaru­sian or Russ­ian and deliv­ered to their rel­a­tives.

On Novem­ber 1, 2024, box­es con­tain­ing post­cards for impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists were unsealed at the Merk­ki Media Muse­um in Helsin­ki.

Ingrid Svan­feldt, Reporters With­out Bor­ders Fin­land board mem­ber, and BAJ deputy chair­man Barys Haret­s­ki next to the stand ded­i­cat­ed to impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists at the Media Muse­um Merk­ki. Helsin­ki, August 8, 2024. Pho­to cred­it: BAJ

On August 8, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Reporters With­out Bor­ders and the Union of Jour­nal­ists of Fin­land, the Chair­man of the For­eign Affairs Com­mit­tee of the Finnish Par­lia­ment, and rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists unveiled a wall of mail­box­es where peo­ple can put let­ters addressed to impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists.

“Hav­ing polit­i­cal pris­on­ers behind bars, let alone mem­bers of the press, is non­sense in Fin­land. This is why the wall with mail­box­es addressed to dozens of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists behind bars appeared at the Media Muse­um in the cen­ter of Helsin­ki. It was installed to edu­cate muse­um vis­i­tors about the sit­u­a­tion with media free­dom in Belarus and enable them to send let­ters and post­cards to Belaru­sians behind bars,” said Ingrid Svan­feldt, board mem­ber of Reporters With­out Bor­ders Fin­land, at the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny in sum­mer.

On Novem­ber 1, box­es with mes­sages to impris­oned jour­nal­ists were unsealed.

“These post­cards were for Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists behind bars. There were a lot of post­cards – more than a hun­dred. We were sur­prised by how many they were,” said Kiryl Kiry­lau, a cit­i­zen of Belarus who has been liv­ing in Fin­land since 2008.

Let­ters for impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists. Pho­to: Ingrid Svan­feldt

The orga­niz­ers will trans­late the Finnish- and Eng­lish-lan­guage post­cards into Belaru­sian or Russ­ian and deliv­er them to the addressees:

“Next, the orga­niz­ers will con­tact rel­a­tives and friends of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers or jour­nal­ists who have already been released to give them the post­cards. There is no point in send­ing them to the pen­i­ten­tiaries: they won’t reach the inmates any­way,” stat­ed Kiryl Kiry­lau.

“I think the sol­i­dar­i­ty action was effec­tive,» says Kiryl Kiry­lau. «But more infor­ma­tion is need­ed: the sit­u­a­tion of Belaru­sian polit­i­cal pris­on­ers has become news for many peo­ple. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there is less and less infor­ma­tion about Belarus. Still, the more infor­ma­tion about this and oth­er sol­i­dar­i­ty actions appears in the pub­lic space, the stronger the response will be.”

Vis­i­tors of the exhi­bi­tion. Pho­to: Ingrid Svan­feldt

The exhi­bi­tion is still going strong in the muse­um.

“It will remain open as long as there is inter­est from peo­ple,” empha­sized Kiryl Kiry­lau.