Belarus / Europe & Central Asia

  
Belarusian police detain a man at a March 25, 2017, protest in Minsk. (AFP/Vasily Maximov)

Journalists face trial for covering protests in Belarus

New York, April 12, 2017–Belarusian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalists for covering protests and should allow the news media to work unobstructed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A Belarusian Interior Ministry official films journalists reporting on a police raid of one of Belsat TV's offices in Minsk, March 31, 2017. (AP/Sergei Grits)

Belarus police raid offices of TV station Belsat, detain cameraman

New York, March 31, 2017–Belarusian authorities should cease harassing Belsat TV and all news media in an effort to censor coverage of opposition protests and should immediately release all journalists detained for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police today raided two of the channel’s offices in the capital Minsk, confiscated the…

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Belarusians protest against the government of President Aleksandr Lukashenko in the capital Minsk, March 15, 2017. The sign reads "Lukaeshenko, stop picking the raisins out of the bread." (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

At least eight journalists still jailed for reporting on Belarus protests

New York, March 28, 2017–Belarusian authorities should immediately release all journalists jailed covering protests and should cease obstructing reporters in an effort to keep news of the protests out of media reports, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering protests in Belarus

Beginning in early February, there have been nationwide demonstrations in Belarus to protest the introduction of a new tax on the unemployed. More than 150 protesters have been arrested, dozens have been fined or sentenced to up to 15 days in jail for participating in the protests, and at least 32 journalists have been detained…

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A rally in Minsk on March 15. Dozens of journalists are being obstructed or detained to prevent them covering protests in Belarus. (AP/Sergei Grits)

CPJ joins call for Belarus president to stop harassment of journalists, protesters

The Committee to Protect Journalists, along with 48 rights organizations, sent a letter on March 22 to Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, condemning the detention and harassment of protesters, journalists, human rights defenders, civil society activists, and members of the country’s opposition party.

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Belarusians protest in the eastern city of Bobruisk, March 12, 2017. (Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko)

Dozens of journalists obstructed from covering Belarus protests

New York, March 23, 2017 – Belarusian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalists prosecuted for covering a wave of nationwide protests and should cease interfering with journalists doing their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces have detained or otherwise obstructed at least 32 journalists in an effort to censor…

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Journalist arrested in Moscow on Belarusian extradition request

New York, March 15, 2017–Russian authorities should immediately release Yuriy Baranchik, chief analytical editor of the pro-Kremlin Russian news agency Regnum, and allow him to work unobstructed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A woman takes a photograph in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, April 7, 2016. (Reuters)

Belarusian court rules to extradite blogger to Azerbaijan

New York, February 7, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus to extradite Russian-Israeli blogger Aleksandr Lapshin to Azerbaijan to stand trial for traveling to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and for criticizing Azerbaijani policies.

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Blogger jailed in Belarus faces extradition to Azerbaijan

New York, January 13, 2017–Belarussian authorities should unconditionally release Aleksandr Lapshin, a Russian-Israeli blogger detained in the capital Minsk on an extradition request from Azerbaijan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Remembering Pavel Sheremet, IPFA honoree, friend to CPJ, and hard-nosed journalist

Pavel Sheremet, who died yesterday when a bomb blew up the car he was driving in Kiev, was a CPJ International Press Freedom awardee in 1998. At the awards ceremony in the glittery Waldorf-Astoria Hotel that November, Sheremet was a no show.

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