Belarus: Police Violence Towards Members Of The Press Continues With Arrest Of 40 Journalists

Location: Belarus, Minsk
Date: October 14, 2020

Since the beginning of the year, the Belarusian Association of Journalists has recorded more than 400 cases of harassment of journalists for their professional activities. Unlawful acts against journalists hiked with the elections nearing and the protests that followed afterwards.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism has been following the events unfold with great concern. While women journalists are not the sole target in the protests, the attacks against them must be recognized as women's contribution in the whole Eastern Europe region is very powerful. Since the beginning of protests we have documented at least 40 women journalists detained with three of them having their accreditation revoked.

Concerning the vicious attacks against the press, Interior Minister Yury Karaev had expressed his "principled position - not to touch journalists.". This was three days after the brutal dispersal of the first protests, when some journalists, including foreign ones, like other detainees, were beaten during their arrest, spent the night on the ground, and then were thrown into overcrowded cells, where the one who ate was happy. once a day. 

But the events of the last two months show that the position of “leaving the journalists alone” is not so fundamental. Moreover, the latest arrests indicate that journalists wearing “Press” vests, on the contrary, have become targets for persecution.

On October 11, the ninth of the now “traditional” protests against the fraudulent election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with dozens of journalists coming from all around the country to broadcast the protests. However, many of them did not even manage to get to the meeting place. Over 40 journalists were detained, with most of them having to spend the night at the police station. Moreover the police announced that an administrative process would be taken against all the journalists for “disobeying the lawful demands of the police (Article 23.4 of the Administrative Code, punishable by a fine from 2 to 50 b.c. or arrest up to 15 days).”

During the impediment of the journalists on October 11, most likely, a new method was used in Minsk. They were first brought in to the police department for “document checks” and then were accused of “refusing to leave a certain place necessary to ensure public order, and for the personal and public safety of citizens” although almost all journalists detained are from different publications they were detained at different times, by different policemen, in different places. Of the 40 journalists detained 17 of them are women journalists, some of them facing their second or third round of arbitrary detention since August 9. 

1. Natallia Fedosenko (TASS) 

2. Valery Stepchankau (TASS) 

3. Tatiana Karaviankova (BelaPAN)

4. Elena Talkachova (BelaPAN and Tut.by)

5. Nasta Boyka (“Belarusians and the Market”)

6. Irena Katselovich (“Nasha Niva”)

7. Nadezhda Buzhan (“Nasha Niva”)

8. Anna Koltygina (Tut.by) 

9. Oksana Manchuk (BelTA) 

10. Olga Kamyagina (TUT.BY and Narodnaya Volya) 

11. Maryna Kharevich (BelaPAN) 

12. Daria Spevak (Onliner.by) 

13. Alena Kavalchuk (hrodna.life) was released after 5 hours of detention; her camera and phone were confiscated

14. Tatsiana Matveeva (Tut.by, BelaPAN) 

15. Angelica Zaitseva (TUT.BY and Narodnaya Volya)

16. Alena Germanovich (BelaPAN) 

17. Alena Bychkova (Tut.by and Narodnaya Volya) 

When the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs made a principled statement "not to touch the journalists," he made a reservation "except for cases where they stand between violators and the forces of law and order." Probably, now we are witnessing an attempt to portray journalists as violators, who stood between the demonstrators and the security forces. But in court, videos and witnesses will again be presented, who will tell how the journalists actually worked before the arrest. In the meanwhile, in many cases of court proceedings concerning arrests of the journalists it has been impossible to gain proper information, public were not allowed to hearings with reasons of Covid-19 precautions. This is another form of intimidation against journalists in Belarus, making them feel alone and their cases kept in shadows.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism signed a joint statement with other international organizations calling for the EU agencies to reintroduce sanctions against Belarus given the deterioration of freedom of the press in the country on August 18. We find the way women journalists are treated in Belarus, in the 21st century utterly abhorrent. We repeat our call to EU agencies to act with conscience and in a way that prioritizes EU fundamental values and to apply sanctions against the Belarus government as it is clear that warnings of civil society to the government keep falling on deaf ears.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.