“Press freedom and today’s Belarus are incompatible”: Forum in Vilnius highlights imprisoned Belarusian journalists

The forum “Stay­ing secure in unse­cure times: Strate­gies for jour­nal­ists and the media” opened in Vil­nius with a sol­i­dar­i­ty action for impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists.

Sol­i­dar­i­ty action for impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists. Vil­nius, May 2, 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

On May 2, on the eve of World Press Free­dom Day, Belaru­sian and Euro­pean media pro­fes­sion­als gath­ered in Vil­nius to dis­cuss press­ing chal­lenges and once again draw atten­tion to the ongo­ing repres­sion of jour­nal­ists in Belarus.

Par­tic­i­pants and guests of the forum expressed their sup­port for col­leagues who have been impris­oned by the Belaru­sian regime for polit­i­cal rea­sons.

Sol­i­dar­i­ty action for impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists. Vil­nius, May 2, 2025. Pho­to: BAJ

Accord­ing to the lat­est data from the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ), at least 40 media work­ers are cur­rent­ly behind bars.

“Press free­dom and today’s Belarus are incom­pat­i­ble. More than 40 of our col­leagues, our friends, are in prison. We remem­bered them a year ago. But over the past year, the sit­u­a­tion has not improved: while some have been released, oth­ers have been jailed. We have yet to achieve our main goal — the release of our col­leagues. But what we can do is con­tin­ue to remind the world of this trag­ic sit­u­a­tion, to speak out about Belarus, about Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists behind bars, and about all Belaru­sian polit­i­cal pris­on­ers,” said BAJ Deputy Chair­man Barys Haret­s­ki.

Sol­i­dar­i­ty action for impris­oned Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists. Vil­nius, May 2, 2025. Pho­to: BAJ