August 9 marks three years since Belarusians stood up to demand a fair ount of their votes in the 2020 Presidential elections, Since then, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko has all but eliminated independent media in the country.
On this grim anniversary, the International Press Institute (IPI) global network renews its demand for the immediate release of all imprisoned journalists as well as the repeal of all bans on the operations of independent media in Belarus. It also call for a restoration of democracy in the country.
From the beginning of the 2020 uprising against Lukashenko, independent media were targeted by Belarusian authorities and blamed for “calling for” protests. From the first days of the protests, journalists from popular outlets such as Belsat and Nasha Niva were shot at with rubber bullets by security forces despite wearing clear PRESS markings.
In the weeks that followed, dozens of journalists from both Belarusian and foreign media were harassed by security officials, who made little to no distinction between them and protesters beaten and arrested for peacefully demonstrating against the election results, which were soon internationally recognized as falsified. Independent websites were blocked, with Belarusians reverting to news channels on Telegram to stay up to date with the situation in the country.
Up until that point, Lukashenko had firmly controlled traditional media outlets while allowing for a narrow space online for independent media. In the wake of the 2020 mass protests, Lukashenko cracked down on all remaining critical voices in an attempt to censor all information about popular discontent.
Journalists behind bars
In 2020, in the run-up to the elections, authorities in Belarus progressively escalated their practice of jailing journalists. The first target was RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik, who was detained two months before Lukashenko’s reelection, and later sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly “organizing riots” and “inciting hatred” by administering a popular news channel on Telegram.
The situation worsened dramatically after the vote. Soon after the elections, Belsat journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova were detained for video streaming an anti-Lukashenko protest in Minsk. Chultsova was sentenced to two years in prison for “organizing events violating public order”, while Andreyeva received over eight years on the same charges, as well as for “state treason”.
Since then, several waves of repression hit independent media in Belarus, with Polish-Belarusian journalist and Gazeta Wyborcza correspondent Andrzej Poczobut jailed in March 2021. In May that year, authorities then arrested Lyudmila Chekina and Maryna Zolatava, the editor-in-chief and director of what used to be Belarus’s most popular media outlet, Tut.by. In January 2023, a court in Minsk sentenced both women to 12 years in prison.
As of August 2023, there are 35 journalists and media workers behind bars in Belarus, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), the highest count in Europe.
Media outlets labeled as ‘extremist’
In Belarus, journalists and their readers alike have been criminalized by the Lukashenko regime. Following the mass protests of 2020, authorities began designating independent media as “extremist formation” and content published by outlets as “extremist”, effectively banning any reader interactions with those receiving either designation.
Readers face fines or prison terms for reposting online content designated as “extremist”, while subscribing to social media pages (including popular Telegram channels) of many independent media can be qualified by authorities as “assisting an extremist formation”.
As of August 2023, most of Belarus’s popular independent media have received this designation, including Belsat, As a result of these measures, nearly all independent outlets and journalists have been forced to move their operations abroad and carry out their activities in exile.
On July 1 of this year, Lukashenko signed a new law that enables authorities to oust foreign media outlets from countries that the Belarusian government designates as “unfriendly”. Days after the adoption of the law, Belarusian border guards expelled Justyna Prus, the correspondent in Minsk of PAP, Poland’s national press agency.
At the same time, authorities have further cracked down on independent media, now reaching down to the local level. Even journalists reporting on issues of low political sensitivity can now face persecution in Belarus.
