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World Press Freedom Day: we reflect on journalists from Belarus

Image created by Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights

Today is World Press Freedom Day. Today we stand in solidarity with all the journalists, bloggers and bringers of free speech in Belarusian prisons. See some of their faces here, to remind us who we have to fight for every day.

Image created by Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights

Iryna Slaunikava is a former representative of Belsat TV in Belarus. She was arrested in October 2021 for allegedly posting content on Facebook that was labelled "extremist". She was eventually charged with a criminal case and was sentenced to five years in prison in August 2022.

Image created by Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights

Dzmitryi Luksha used to work as a TV presenter on national television. He more recently worked as a freelance correspondent at a Kazakh TV channel and was arrested on 11 March 2022 and recently sentenced to 4 years in prison.

 

Image created by Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights

Katsiaryna Bakhvalava (Andreyeva) is a journalist for Belsat TV. He was sentenced to 2 years in prison in a criminal case after a live broadcast of a very violent police crackdown on a peaceful protest in Minsk's Change Square in 2020. Last year, with 3 months left on her original sentence, she was also sentenced to 8 years in prison for high treason.

Image created by Libereco - Partnership for Human Rights

Kseniya Lutskina worked at the state-owned Belteleradiocompany before the 2020 elections. She then joined a strike and then resigned as a correspondent for the Belarus 2 TV channel and became a member of the Coordination Council. She was arrested in December 2020 and sentenced to eight years in prison in 2022.

Other journalists and bloggers in prison in Belarus include Larysa Shchyrakova, Maryna Zolatava, Andrzej Poczobut, Liudmila Chekina, Iryna Leuskina, Raman Pratasevich, Ihor Losik, Yahor Martsinovich and many others. They should be released immediately, along with all political prisoners in Belarus.

#westandBYyou #FreeBelarus #standwithBelarus #pressfreedom #WorldPressFreedomDay