Authorities declare BAJ deputy chairman Barys Haretski wanted

Barys Haret­s­ki, the Deputy Chair­man of the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), has been placed on an Russ­ian-Belaru­sian inter­state want­ed list, as noticed by Medi­a­zona.

The want­ed notice does not indi­cate the legal arti­cle under which Belaru­sian and Russ­ian author­i­ties are seek­ing him.

Cur­rent­ly, 42 media pro­fes­sion­als are impris­oned in Belarus. The regime con­tin­ues its crack­down on jour­nal­ists, con­duct­ing raids, impris­on­ing new col­leagues, and mis­treat­ing those already behind bars. 

“Our thoughts and sol­i­dar­i­ty are with them,” Haret­s­ki told the BAJ mon­i­tor­ing ser­vice. “As for the ‘interstate’—more pre­cise­ly, Belarusian-Russian—search, it is not a big deal. One day, we’ll look back on it with a smile.” 

Haret­s­ki began his jour­nal­ism career in the late 2000s, work­ing as a cor­re­spon­dent for Radio Racy­ja and the socio-polit­i­cal online media udf.by. Since 2018, he has served as BAJ’s Deputy Chair­man.

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