August 31, 2020, Minsk, Belarus -- In the 20 days since the disputed presidential elections, Belarus has presented anything but ideal working conditions for journalists. Following the allegedly falsified election results which put “Europe’s last dictator” Alexander Lukashenko back to power, Belarus has begun to tighten its grip on journalists. Belarusian Association of Journalists documented over 100 cases of detention of journalists since August 9th. Detained journalists were kept in horrifying conditions, raising concern globally. The journalists were also beaten and some were deliberately targeted with rubber bullets.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism called CPT (Committee on Prevention of Torture) to take action and joined other organizations in urging EU agencies to reintroduce sanctions against Belarus. 

Belarus, where the situation of freedom of the press is miserable, even worse than in Russia according to the RSF listing, has also sought to block people from accessing numerous websites. At times, the internet has been almost completely at a standstill due to government action. Leading to the elections foreign journalists' accreditations were canceled with some getting deported without due process. 

The second wave of detention of journalists was initiated on August 27th, leading up to the mass protests to be held in Minsk on Sunday. 

According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists 32 journalists -among them 10 women journalists- were “detained” on Thursday for “document checks”. Some of the journalists were taken from their homes by masked special security forces while others were impeded at work and taken to the police station in dozens.

The Belarusian Interior Ministry denied that the journalists were detained or arrested and said that the journalists were taken to a police station in the capital to check if they had valid accreditation, adding that those with the correct documents would be released. The journalists were indeed released the same night but only after getting their material on their phones deleted. Those who refused to unlock their phones were released with a delay and their phones were confiscated overnight. 

The fact that the journalists were detained and released with no official report is evidence that the “detention” was conducted arbitrarily with the intention of intimidating and impeding the work of journalists. Ten journalists that were detained on Thursday were women, Belarusian Association of Journalists listed their names and newsrooms as follows:  Nadezhda Buzhan (Nasha Niva), Ekaterina Andreeva (Belsat), Anastasia Reznikova (Belsat), Elena Vasilieva (Sputnik), Tatiana Zyankovich (EPA), Tatiana Karavenkova (BelaPAN), Alexandra Boguslavskaya (DW), Lisa Vereykina (BBC), Kate Peters (BBC) and Larissa Shchyrakova (Freelance). 

Online censorship and the ongoing turmoil in Belarus make it hard for international organizations to reach out to the affected journalists which require an urgent action plan to visit the country. Many journalists in the country opt-out of having a social media account with fear of retaliation. 

The Coalition For Women In Journalism finds the unlawful detention and intimidation of journalists beyond deplorable. We urge Belarusian authorities to fulfill their international commitments and we also call on OSCE for a special visit to investigate the allegations of rigged election results. Such totalitarian tactics in 21st century Europe should not be tolerated.