Statements by BAJ and partners

The time for release is now

We, the under­signed, are con­cerned that, amid the cur­rent glob­al sit­u­a­tion, the plight of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers in Belarus may slip out of the pub­lic eye. Mean­while, the cat­a­stroph­ic sit­u­a­tion of approx­i­mate­ly 1,200 polit­i­cal pris­on­ers requires imme­di­ate inter­ven­tion. 

21.05.2025

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.

17.03.2025

Campaign Call: Free Mzia Today

Jour­nal­ists, news­rooms, press free­dom advo­cates, human rights defend­ers, and jour­nal­ists’ orga­ni­za­tions call for Mzia Ama­glo­beli’s release.

21.02.2025

EFJ calls for mobilisation of European donors

The U.S. Agency for Inter­na­tion­al Devel­op­ment (USAID), one of the largest offi­cial aid agen­cies in the world, has been instruct­ed to stop projects fol­low­ing a 90-day for­eign aid freeze imposed by Sec­re­tary of State Mar­co Rubio. The mea­sure affects dozens of inde­pen­dent media out­lets in more than 30 coun­tries, deprived of U.S. sup­port pro­grams to strength­en […]

29.01.2025

Belarus: ahead of sham election, RSF files ICC complaint for Lukashenko’s crimes against humanity targeting journalists

After five years of inflict­ing an unprece­dent­ed crack­down on the press, Alexan­der Lukashenko is set to run for a sev­enth pres­i­den­tial term on Sun­day, 26 Jan­u­ary. Reporters With­out Bor­ders (RSF) has filed a com­plaint with the Inter­na­tion­al Crim­i­nal Court (ICC) against the Belaru­sian leader for crimes against human­i­ty, as jour­nal­ists con­tin­ue to be over­whelm­ing­ly tar­get­ed […]

24.01.2025

Media organisations in solidarity with journalists and media in Georgia

Faced with vio­lence, threats, deten­tions, equip­ment destruc­tion and seizure, jour­nal­ists in Geor­gia are enter­ing what is sup­posed to be a fes­tive peri­od with uncer­tain­ty and fear for their safe­ty. Sol­i­dar­i­ty and sup­port is need­ed now more than ever.

20.12.2024

BAJ calls for end to “witch hunt” and use of “anti-extremist” legislation to stifle media

Just last week, media work­ers from two more region­al pub­li­ca­tions were thrown behind bars. The BAJ esti­mates that at least 45 jour­nal­ists are in prison today.

16.12.2024

Ihar Ilyash recognised as political prisoner

On Novem­ber 22, 2024, a joint state­ment by Belaru­sian human rights orga­ni­za­tions regard­ing the sit­u­a­tion with jour­nal­ist Ihar Ilyash was pub­lished.

22.11.2024

Media Freedom Coalition statement on the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists 2024

The Media Free­dom Coali­tion com­mem­o­rates the 10th anniver­sary of the Inter­na­tion­al Day to End Impuni­ty for Crimes against Jour­nal­ists to high­light the indis­pens­able role of jour­nal­ists and media work­ers report­ing from cri­sis- and con­flict-zones in uncov­er­ing the most undoc­u­ment­ed affairs of our time, and to stress the dan­gers they face due to their ded­i­ca­tion.

04.11.2024

IPI condemns arrests of two more journalists

The IPI glob­al net­work demands the release of Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists Ihar Ilyash and Dani­il Palian­s­ki, whose deten­tions were report­ed on in the space of a week by inde­pen­dent Belaru­sian media.

25.10.2024

IFJ and EFJ demand the release of jailed journalists on the 4th anniversary of the fraudulent elections

The Inter­na­tion­al and the Euro­pean Fed­er­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (IFJ-EFJ) join their affil­i­ate, the Belaru­sian Jour­nal­ists’ Asso­ci­a­tion (BAJ), in call­ing on the regime to release all jour­nal­ists and media work­ers behind bars. The Fed­er­a­tions also urge the author­i­ties to stop their harass­ment of exiled jour­nal­ists, includ­ing raid­ing their res­i­dences and caus­ing dis­tress to their fam­i­lies to […]

09.08.2024

BAJ and the Press Club Belarus call on the Polish authorities to preserve Belsat TV channel

The largest Belaru­sian media orga­ni­za­tions, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists and the Press Club Belarus have urged the Pol­ish author­i­ties to pre­serve the Belaru­sian tele­vi­sion chan­nel Bel­sat.

06.08.2024

Journalist Alena Tsimashchuk declared political prisoner

Joint state­ment by the Belaru­sian human rights com­mu­ni­ty.

14.06.2024

Belarusian authorities invade homes of 2 exiled journalists

The Com­mit­tee to Pro­tect Jour­nal­ists calls on Belaru­sian author­i­ties to stop harass­ing exiled jour­nal­ists and ensure the media can work freely, both abroad and at home.

22.05.2024

Journalist Ihar Karnei recognized as political prisoner

26.03.2024