Belarus: CFWIJ condemns the arrests of Liubou Kaspiarovich and Hlafira Zhuk

June 1, 2021, Minsk - The situation of press freedoms in Belarus continues to deteriorate as journalists are subjected to detentions and state violence for covering the ongoing protests in the country. On May 14, law enforcement agencies detained TUT.BY reporter Liubou Kaspiarovich and sentenced her to 15 days in prison. On May 28, police forces detained a journalist for Narodnaya Volya, Hlafira Zhuk, and sentenced her to 30 days in prison.

Liubou Kaspiarovich was detained, among several other journalists, for covering a student protest on May 14. She was later sentenced to prison for 15 days on accounts of “attending an unsanctioned rally”. Liubou spoke to the Belarusian Association of Journalists about the situation she faced while in custody. The conditions the journalists are being subjected to are unsanitary and unhealthy. They were not allowed access to showers, toothbrushes, clean clothes among other sanitary items. They were forced to sleep on the floor and were made to wake up at odd hours in the morning. 

On May 28, the police took Hlafira Zhuk into custody, and was charged with the violation of an administrative code the following evening. Hlafira turned twenty on the day she was sentenced to prison for thirty days. She is being kept at the Akrestsina detention center for the duration of her jail time. It is very likely that Hlafira will be subjected to similar conditions that were faced by Liubou, indicating the political victimization that journalists in the country were subjected to at the time.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is extremely alarmed about the rapidly deteriorating situation of press freedoms and civil liberties in the country. Belarus emerged as the most dangerous place for women journalists in our monthly report for May 2021. Our special report on Belarus delves deeper into the violence women journalists have had to face in the last year of political unrest in the country. The actions of the Belarusian state are reprehensible and antithetical to the principles of democracy. All journalists should be immediately released and be given the freedom to practice their profession safely.