Journalists face prison, abuse and censorship – Belarusian NGO

June 5, BPN. The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) has said the authorities were holding 33 media professionals in detention in late April.

Courts announced nine criminal convictions in the first four months, resulting in sentences of up to 12 years in prison for journalists, it said in a report.

Prison officials mistreated journalists and denied them proper medical care.

Authorities continued to persecute media, journalists, bloggers and ordinary citizens on extremism charges for voicing dissenting opinions. Sixteen media were labeled extremist as of early April.

In January-March, law enforcers raided newsrooms and journalists’ homes 21 times, and made 22 arrests. They interrogated journalists, jailed them for minor offenses or fined.

“The information space was being censored. Independent sources of information inside the country continued to shrink,” the BAJ said.

The authorities have openly declared that propaganda plays a prominent role in their assault on dissent amid what they describe as the West’s hybrid war against Belarus and Russia.