January 17, Pozirk. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described Belarus as the worst jailer in Europe and Central Asia for the second consecutive year in its annual report released yesterday.
Globally, Belarus ranked fourth after China, Israel and Myanmar by the number of imprisoned journalists with 31 jailed reporters in 2024, according to the CPJ. However, recent data by the Belarusian Association of Journalists suggest that this number rose to at least 42 by mid-January.
“Despite several waves of presidential pardons by Alaksandar Łukašenka, which included three members of the press, Belarusian journalists are continually harassed, detained, and sentenced to years in prison, most often over their work for media outlets that authorities have labeled as ‘extremist,'” the report noted.
Belarusian authorities keep retaliating against journalists who covered the 2020 postelection protests that called for Łukašenka’s resignation after the disputed presidential election, the CPJ said. Five of these journalists are serving sentences of 10 years or longer, it added.
One of the cases recorded last year included the persecution of Jaŭhien Mikałajevič, who returned to Belarus from abroad and was no longer active as a journalist. The man is serving an 18-month prison term on protest-related charges.
Minsk continued harassing exiled journalists in 2024, filing criminal charges against them and searching their Belarus-based homes, the CPJ noted, urging countries that have provided safe refuge to Belarusian journalists to protect them from persecution.
