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Parliamentary question - E-000911/2021Parliamentary question
E-000911/2021

Crackdown on journalists in Belarus, in particular the case of Belsat journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova

Question for written answer  E-000911/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Anna Fotyga (ECR)

The whole of the free world should be paying close attention to the trial in Minsk of the Belsat journalists Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Darya Chultsova, which began on 9 February 2021. It was shocking to see the two journalists in a cage. Cages are used in courtrooms in some post-Soviet countries, but only for the most dangerous criminals. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled on a number of occasions that such practices amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, thereby breaching Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The journalists were arrested on 15 November 2020. They were reporting live on a peaceful demonstration – in the area in which Raman Bandarenka had been detained – being brutally broken up by the authorities. Ms Andreyeva and Ms Chultsova were detained while they were carrying out their work as journalists, and yet the Lukashenka regime has pressed criminal charges against them.

Since August 2020, the Lukashenka regime has arrested 400 journalists, some 62 of whom were subjected to violence, and 11 are still in detention. On 9 February 2021, an open letter[1] written by press freedom NGOs to the European institutions was published. The authors call on the EU to take robust action against the unprecedented crackdown on journalists working for independent media outlets in Belarus that has now been going on for six months. The letter focuses in particular on the manner in which criminal prosecutions are being used as a new tactic in the crackdown against journalists working for independent media outlets.

Last updated: 8 March 2021
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