Belarus: Minsk journalists raided, harassed by police; CFWIJ spoke to Tatsiana Bublikawa after her return from hospital

January 17, 2021, Minsk: Journalist Tatsiana Bublikawa, a reporter at BelaPAN - an independent news agency in Belarus was mistreated by the police during a raid at her office in Minsk. The mishandling by the police can be qualified as violent, the trauma of which led Tatsiana to have a panic attack and she ended up in the hospital. However, she along with other journalists in Belarus who are seeking to disseminate information to the public are facing trouble at the hands of the government.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is extremely concerned about authorities' treatment of journalists in Belarus. We are concerned about the raid on independent news organizations, and especially the abusive treatment of authorities towards women journalists. It reflects badly on the authorities that seem to have lost their control, and are using oppressive power to silence free press. 

The CFWIJ spoke to journalist Tatsiana Bublikawa this weekend, to understand her situation of health and ability to work followed by this raid.

According to Tatsiana, police raided the office of BelaPAN editorial on January 14, during which all office employees were asked not to touch their computers and phones. In a video posted on Facebook, Tatsiana says she recorded one of the videos from the hospital toilet where she was accompanied by the security. At hospital She was diagnosed with hypertension and was admitted in cardiology, from there she recorded a second video.

“Fear is the instrument of pressure,” Tatsiana told CFWIJ. 

Belarus has been under political crisis since August 2020 after the presidential elections, the results of which are not accepted by the opposition. It is often seen that in Belarus, critical thinkers and journalists are targeted. The state wants to control the narrative through restriction tactics on media and Press freedom. Thus they keep on harassing independent voices.

She said there was no law in Belarus to protect journalists in the country and many were also leaving Belarus to settle in a calmer place.

However, this is not the first time that attempts are being made to curb the voices of journalists, she said.

While talking about an incident eight years ago, Tatsiana said she was working for Belsat, a television channel, as their correspondent.

“I had gone to cover a protest. Police raided the protest, detained her among others and said she was an activist not a journalist.”

She also told about her press card being confiscated so that she did not have any document proof of being a journalist at the time.

When asked how she sees the current situation, Tatsiana said it was tougher than before.

“We are afraid Stalin times are coming back.”

Although journalists are leaving the country, she said, it is our decision on whether to stay and take the risk. 

“Main aim is to give people information that helps us to do something to stop (all) this.”