RFE/RL essential as key source of free information for Belarusian society — BAJ statement

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists express­es sol­i­dar­i­ty with the employ­ees of Radio Free Europe/Radio Lib­er­ty and Voice of Amer­i­ca, who may face clo­sure due to recent deci­sions by U.S. author­i­ties.

Pho­to: RFE/RL

Radio Free Europe and its Belaru­sian edi­to­r­i­al team is a unique and extreme­ly impor­tant media out­let for Belaru­sian soci­ety. For over 70 years, Radio Free Europe has effec­tive­ly deliv­ered uncen­sored infor­ma­tion to places where author­i­ties engage in a fierce bat­tle against free­dom of speech.

The impact of the jour­nal­ists’ work is clear not only in the wide­spread recog­ni­tion and influ­ence of RFE/RL Belarus’s report­ing but also in the repres­sive actions tak­en by Lukashenka’s author­i­tar­i­an regime against its reporters. This is evi­dent from the many deten­tions, beat­ings, tri­als, and impris­on­ments in 2020, as well as crim­i­nal charges, includ­ing the ongo­ing impris­on­ment of for­mer RFE/RL Belarus employ­ees Ihar Karnei and Ihar Losik.

Only two months ago, Belaru­sian author­i­ties aired pro­pa­gan­da TV sto­ries fea­tur­ing three RFE/RL Belarus jour­nal­ists who were still impris­oned at that time. These clips, filmed in a deten­tion cen­ter, were intend­ed to under­mine the work of RFE/RL Belarus. Regret­tably, the recent deci­sion by U.S. author­i­ties now coin­cides with the Belaru­sian regime’s efforts to silence the voic­es of RFE/RL Belarus jour­nal­ists and, more broad­ly, all inde­pen­dent voic­es with­in the coun­try.

The work of the Voice of Amer­i­ca edi­to­r­i­al team is also cru­cial for Belarus and the broad­er region, par­tic­u­lar­ly in oppos­ing pro-Russ­ian and pro-regime pro­pa­gan­da. This remains a key focus for inde­pen­dent media.

Radio Free Europe and Voice of Amer­i­ca are crit­i­cal­ly impor­tant today for our coun­try, where for the past twen­ty-five years, the author­i­ties have been wag­ing an open war against free media.

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists