BAJ receives Günter Wallraff Award

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists has been hon­ored for its long­stand­ing work defend­ing jour­nal­ists and free­dom of speech.

Barys Haret­s­ki holds a por­trait of impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ist Kat­siary­na Andreye­va. Pho­to: BAJ

The Gün­ter Wall­raff Prize for Press Free­dom and Human Rights was award­ed on May 9 in Cologne. The award was accept­ed by Barys Haret­s­ki, Deputy Chair of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), who held a por­trait of impris­oned jour­nal­ist Kat­siary­na Andreye­va.

“This award is yet anoth­er impor­tant oppor­tu­ni­ty for us to remind the world about the 40 jour­nal­ists cur­rent­ly impris­oned in Lukashenka’s jails for doing their jobs,” said Haret­s­ki. “The demand to free these media pro­fes­sion­als must be heard on every inter­na­tion­al plat­form because they are being held hostage sim­ply for their work. There are at least 1,200 polit­i­cal pris­on­ers in the heart of Europe, and 40 of them are jour­nal­ists.”

The BAJ Deputy Chair remind­ed those present that all inde­pen­dent media out­lets have been forced to leave Belarus under regime pres­sure. Ali­ak­san­dr Lukashen­ka, who has clung to pow­er for over 30 years, has spent all that time try­ing to destroy inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ism — even now, in exile:

“Despite the hor­ror of the cur­rent sit­u­a­tion — all inde­pen­dent web­sites in Belarus are blocked, and media out­lets have been labeled extrem­ist for­ma­tions (like Al-Qae­da) — every sin­gle one of them. Even Ger­man out­lets like Die Tageszeitung and Deutsche Welle. I am now one of the lead­ers of an ‘extrem­ist orga­ni­za­tion.’”

Despite the repres­sion and a deep finan­cial cri­sis, inde­pen­dent media con­tin­ue to deliv­er truth­ful infor­ma­tion to Belaru­sians inside the coun­try.

“The regime is doing every­thing it can to drown out our voic­es with pro­pa­gan­da. The pro­pa­gan­dists want to con­trol people’s minds. That’s impor­tant to them. Because unlike in Rus­sia, most Belaru­sians are against the war,” said Haret­s­ki in his speech. “As long as inde­pen­dent media exist, Belaru­sians can know the truth about the war, about the world beyond Putin’s image, about polit­i­cal pris­on­ers, and about human rights. This is our mis­sion.”

Barys Haret­s­ki (left) and Mary­na Khomich, sis­ter of Maria Kalesnika­va (sec­ond from left), accept the Gün­ter Wall­raff Prize in Cologne. Pho­to: BAJ

The Günter Wallraff Prize

The Gün­ter Wall­raff Prize for Press Free­dom and Human Rights is award­ed by the Ini­tia­tive for News Enlight­en­ment. The prize aims to spot­light issues and voic­es that are often over­looked by inter­na­tion­al media. Gün­ter Wall­raff, now 82, is a Ger­man jour­nal­ist and writer, con­sid­ered one of the pio­neers of mod­ern inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ism.

This year’s award was pre­sent­ed to the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists for its impor­tant, years-long effort to defend jour­nal­ists and press free­dom. It was also award­ed to polit­i­cal pris­on­er Maria Kalesnika­va, a sym­bol­ic fig­ure rep­re­sent­ing the many peo­ple who have sac­ri­ficed their free­dom and lives for a free and demo­c­ra­t­ic Belarus.