RSF: Belarus world’s fourth largest prison for journalists

December 12, Pozirk. Belarus ranked fourth in the top 10 countries by the number of imprisoned journalists this year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in its annual report.
China leads the list of the world’s largest prisons for journalists with 124 reporters held behind bars, Myanmar follows with 61, while Israel and Belarus have 41 and 40, respectively.
A total of 550 media workers are held behind bars across the world, 7 percent more than last year. Their combined sentence amounts to 250 years in prison, the report said.
The RSF noted “an alarming intensification of attacks on journalists” in 2024, calling for an immediate response to protect them from violence “often perpetrated by governments and armed groups with total impunity.”
“Journalists do not die, they are killed; they are not in prison, regimes lock them up. . . We need to get things moving, to remind ourselves as citizens that journalists are dying for us, to keep us informed,” stressed Thibaut Bruttin, RSF’s director general.
Belarus ranked 167th of 180 assessed countries and territories in the RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index, presented earlier this year.
The ranking placed Belarus between Saudi Arabia and Cuba, reflecting worsening conditions for journalists in the country, which fell 10 places from the last year.
Following the 2020 political crisis and the crackdown on the opposition, Belarusian authorities changed laws to give a legal veneer to attacks on press freedom. The justice system, under complete government control, has begun equating independent journalism with extremism. Most independent media outlets have been officially declared extremist and were forced to leave the country or avoid covering politics.

Journalist Karniej on trial, accused of disobeying prison authorities
- PoliticsReprisals: Wargaming co-founder given lengthy prison term in absentiaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SecurityPoland, Latvia see sharp rise in illegal entries compared with early October 2024The material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, PoliticsBelarus, Oman sign memorandum on pulp and cardboard millThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsEU delegation calls for all regime prisoners to be freedThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietyBelarus, Oman sign visa waiver agreementThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsBelarusian opposition figures meet with diplomats in ParisThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsCritic says national pantheon reinforces Russian alignmentThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyNigeria set to send 39 construction workers to BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Security, SocietyCuban military delegation arrives in BelarusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietyOver 8,900 face politically-motivated charges in Belarus since 2020 – ViasnaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy
- EconomyRosatom eyes energy storage projects in Belarus, other CIS countriesThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- PoliticsExiled Belarusian pro-democracy parties plan joint office in VilniusThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Economy, PoliticsOfficial calls for review of equipment export strategy amid tight competition in RussiaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- EconomyEDB links Belarus’ reserve growth to gold price surgeThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Society
- PoliticsCichanoŭskaja to address socialist congressThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- SocietyPartyzanka: Poland removes deadline for asylum consideration until March 4The material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, Security, SocietyInvestigation sheds light on military-patriotic clubs’ agendaThe material is available only to POZIRK+
- Politics, SocietySuspected contraband balloons disrupt Vilnius Airport, affecting 6,000 passengersThe material is available only to POZIRK+