“We stand in full solidarity with our brave colleagues!” The IFJ keeps torch of solidarity with journalist prisoners burning

In June, por­traits of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists who stay behind bars appeared at the entrance to the Palace-Res­i­dence in Brus­sels, a build­ing that hous­es the head­quar­ters of the Inter­na­tion­al Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists, the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists, and many oth­er media orga­ni­za­tions and news agen­cies.

“Our build­ing is locat­ed on Rue de la Loi, fac­ing the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion. We believe it is the right place to call for the release of our col­leagues,” said IFJ and EFJ rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

IFJ Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Antho­ny Bel­langer stat­ed: “Lukashenka’s regime is crush­ing free speech and strip­ping jour­nal­ists and media work­ers of their free­dom. We demand the imme­di­ate release of the 45 jour­nal­ists cur­rent­ly impris­oned in Belarus and call on press free­dom orga­ni­za­tions and jour­nal­ists’ asso­ci­a­tions not to turn a blind eye to the repres­sion of the media sec­tor and fla­grant human rights vio­la­tions in the coun­try.”

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The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists, the only inde­pen­dent rep­re­sen­ta­tive orga­ni­za­tion of jour­nal­ists and media work­ers in the coun­try, was labeled as an ‘extrem­ist group’ by the regime in March 2023. We stand in full sol­i­dar­i­ty with our brave col­leagues, who are car­ry­ing out their activ­i­ties in exile to counter the ongo­ing crack­down on press free­dom and civ­il soci­ety. Jour­nal­ism is not a crime!” he added.

The marathon of sol­i­dar­i­ty with the jour­nal­ists of Belaru­sian polit­i­cal pris­on­ers was launched on May 3 in Vil­nius by a joint action of the BAJ and the Lithuan­ian Union of Jour­nal­ists.

Swe­den, Fin­land, Den­mark, Ger­many, and oth­er coun­tries have already joined the call.

BAJ calls on col­leagues all over the world to sup­port the sol­i­dar­i­ty action!

You can print por­traits of impris­oned col­leagues, take pic­tures with them in rec­og­niz­able places of your city and pub­lish them on social media with the tags #СвабодуЖурналістам and #BecauseThe­Jour­nal­ist, and also send us to office@baj.media or intercomm@baj.media.

#СвабодуЖурналістам

#BecauseThe­Jour­nal­ist

Read more:

The authorities are trying to destroy independent journalism in Belarus. Support the Solidarity Marathon!

Businessman and publisher of Baranavichy newspaper Shag evacuated from Belarus

«We stand by the truth, we stand together!» A marathon of solidarity with the imprisoned journalists started in Vilnius