“Quiet and courageous heroes, they hold a special place in my heart”: Politicians and media professionals honor imprisoned journalists

More than 40 jour­nal­ists remain impris­oned in Belarus, but oth­ers can talk for them – their sym­bol­ic god­par­ents, as well as oth­er pub­lic per­sons and media pro­fes­sion­als. On World Press Free­dom Day, May 3, the Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists called on sym­bol­ic god­par­ents of polit­i­cal pris­on­ers, pub­lic fig­ures, and media pro­fes­sion­als to high­light the sit­u­a­tion of jailed Belaru­sian jour­nal­ists.

Delara Burkhardt

“So-called ‘high treason’ – simply for reporting on peaceful protests”

Delara Burkhardt, a Mem­ber of the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment for the Social Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty of Ger­many, is the sym­bol­ic god­moth­er of Kat­siary­na Andreye­va, a Belaru­sian jour­nal­ist sen­tenced to two years in prison for report­ing from protests on the so-called Square of Changes in Min­sk. Lat­er, her sen­tence was increased to eight years.

“Kat­siary­na Andreye­va has now spent more than four years in prison, sen­tenced to over eight years for so-called ‘high trea­son’, sim­ply for report­ing on peace­ful protests in Belarus.

Her case is emblem­at­ic of the Belaru­sian regime’s bru­tal repres­sion of inde­pen­dent jour­nal­ism and civ­il soci­ety. I con­tin­ue to call for her imme­di­ate and uncon­di­tion­al release, and for the release of all polit­i­cal pris­on­ers in Belarus.

Jour­nal­ism is not a crime. It is a cor­ner­stone of democ­ra­cy, and we must stand with those who risk every­thing to defend it.”

“Simply for doing his job as a journalist”

Mr. Gusty Graas from Cham­ber of Deputies of the Grand Duchy of Lux­em­bourg is a sym­bol­ic god­fa­ther of Ali­ak­san­dr Mant­se­vich, jour­nal­ist and edi­tor of a Rehi­janal­na­ja haze­ta – he was sen­tenced to 4 years in a prison but did not admit any guilty when being judged for dis­cred­i­ta­tion of Belarus through his pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ty.

Gusty Graas

“On World Press Free­dom Day, we remem­ber Ali­ak­san­dr Mant­se­vich, impris­oned in Belarus sim­ply for doing his job as a jour­nal­ist.

His case is a pow­er­ful reminder that press free­dom remains under threat around the world. Where the press is silenced, so too is the public’s right to truth.

Defend­ing jour­nal­ism is defend­ing democ­ra­cy.” 

 “I really hope to see her regain her freedom”

Wendy Cham­ber­lain, the Lib­er­al Demo­c­rat Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for North East Fife in the UK, is the sym­bol­ic god­moth­er of Larysa Shchyrako­va. Larysa Shchyrako­va is a Belaru­sian jour­nal­ist in prison after police searched her home in 2022, because of report­ing for Bel­sat TV.

Wendy Cham­ber­lain

“Ms. Shchyrako­va is a jour­nal­ist who has been sen­tenced to 3,5 years impris­on­ment.

As a result, her son has been tak­en to a shel­ter. I have been sup­port­ing Ms. Shchyrakova’s imme­di­ate release for over a year now and real­ly hope to see her regain her free­dom as soon as pos­si­ble.

On this World Press Free­dom Day, I reit­er­ate my sup­port for the release of all Belaru­sian polit­i­cal pris­on­ers who are cam­paign­ing for free­dom and democ­ra­cy, many of whom are jour­nal­ists who have had their fun­da­men­tal prin­ci­ples of press free­dom with­drawn.”

About unfair prison sen­tence to Larysa Shchyrako­va reminds also Pablo Aiquel, sec­re­tary gen­er­al of nation­al union of jour­nal­ists CGT – (SNJ-CGT) France.

Pablo Aiquel

“Standing up for democracy is not a crime”

Swan­t­je Michaelsen, Mem­ber of the Ger­man Bun­destag for Alliance 90/The Greens, is the sym­bol­ic god­moth­er of Siarhei Sat­suk.

Siarhei Sat­suk is an inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ist and edi­tor-in-chief of the inde­pen­dent news out­let Ezhed­nevnik. Sat­suk is the author of inves­ti­ga­tions into cor­rup­tion at the Belaru­sian Min­istry of Health, and in par­tic­u­lar, into the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. In 2022, the court in Min­sk sen­tenced him to eight years in prison.

Swan­t­je Michaelsen

“I send my warmest greet­ings to Siarhei Sat­suk on today’s World Press Free­dom Day. My thoughts are with you and with all those impris­oned for free report­ing.

Siarhei Sat­suk is a jour­nal­ist in prison. For what rea­son? Because Siarhei Sat­suk stood up for democ­ra­cy and free­dom of speech. For me, this is not a crime, but a human right and our most trea­sured asset.

And so I will con­tin­ue to be loud and fight for his imme­di­ate release.” 

“When propaganda manipulates people, we need every journalist”

Robin Wagen­er, a Mem­ber of the Ger­man Bun­destag and the Fed­er­al For­eign Office’s coor­di­na­tor for inter-soci­etal coop­er­a­tion with the South Cau­ca­sus, the Repub­lic of Moldo­va, and Cen­tral Asia, is a sym­bol­ic god­fa­ther of Ihar Losik, who was sen­tenced to 15 years in prison in Decem­ber 2021.

Robin Wagen­er

He is a Belaru­sian jour­nal­ist and blog­ger, the admin­is­tra­tor of the Belarus Golovno­go Moz­ga Telegram chan­nel, boast­ing over 172,000 sub­scribers.

“It is an hon­our to be the par­lia­men­tar­i­an god­fa­ther of Ihar Losik since 2021.

Ihar is a coura­geous fight­er for democ­ra­cy and free­dom in Belarus. He has cam­paigned for inde­pen­dent media and a fair pres­i­den­tial elec­tion. His arrest was ille­gal, his sen­tence a crime. No one should be deprived of their free­dom because of their desire for democ­ra­cy. Free­dom of expres­sion is not a crime; it is a human right.

I call for the imme­di­ate release of Ihar Losik and all the oth­er polit­i­cal pris­on­ers in Belarus. Europe needs their voice. In times when pro­pa­gan­da manip­u­lates peo­ple, we need every jour­nal­ist who is aware of the immense impor­tance of fact-based report­ing. As Ida B. Wells said, ‘The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” 

“We need such brave people showing us the protests and everyday life”

Ste­fan Kube, Edi­tor-in-Chief of the jour­nal Reli­gion & Gesellschaft in Ost und West; Man­ag­ing Direc­tor at Forum RGOW. He speaks about Viachaslau Laza­rau, a 47-year-old free­lance video­g­ra­ph­er, arrest­ed after a home search in 2023. He has now been sen­tenced to five years in prison; ear­li­er, in 2020, he was arrest­ed while pho­tograph­ing a demon­stra­tion.

Ste­fan Kube

“Viachaslau Laza­rau is approx­i­mate­ly my age.

I have nev­er met him in per­son, but when I saw his pic­ture, I could imag­ine that he is a keen observ­er. Viachaslau has doc­u­ment­ed the devel­op­ments in Belarus over the past few years with his cam­era. We need peo­ple like him, who are brave enough to show us protests and every­day life in Belarus beyond the offi­cial gov­ern­ment image.

Viachaslau Laza­rau

Free­dom of speech needs such an open eye.” 

“Europe and the world must not turn a blind eye to journalists”

Pavol Demeš, for­eign pol­i­cy ana­lyst and for­mer Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs of Slo­va­kia, speaks about Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau. Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau is a jour­nal­ist and media man­ag­er, sen­tenced to 14 years in prison. He and his part­ner, Iry­na Zlobi­na, were detained in 2021 on sus­pi­cion of financ­ing the anti-gov­ern­ment protests, com­pen­sat­ing for the fines imposed on dis­si­dents.

Pavol Demeš

“Over the past 30 years, I have met many brave jour­nal­ists and activists in dif­fer­ent parts of the world.

Those from Belarus hold a spe­cial place in my heart. They are qui­et and coura­geous heroes who have long fought for truth, self-respect, dig­ni­ty and free­dom, and are will­ing to make sac­ri­fices for these val­ues. Europe and the world must not turn a blind eye to jour­nal­ists who have been thrown into prison by the bar­bar­ic Lukashenko regime.

Today, I am think­ing espe­cial­ly of Andrei Ali­ak­san­drau, and I wish him not to be bro­ken and to be freed as soon as pos­si­ble. Long Live Belarus!”