Radio Racyja journalist refused accreditation for seventh time

Independent journalists don't have opportunities to work in Belarus.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus has refused to accredit Radio Racyja journalist Viktar Parfionenka as a correspondent of a foreign media outlet for a seventh time, charter97.org learnt from the press service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ).

The journalist applied for accreditation on July 16. It was a seventh attempt. The previous ones ended with refusals.

The journalist thinks it is a discriminatory decision directed against opportunities of people to receive true information reflecting different opinions on Radio Racyja.

Radio Racyja and Belsat TV channel that broadcast from Poland have been seeking the official accreditation of their journalists in Belarus for many years, but the Belarusian MFA continues to refuse accreditation.

International journalist organisations call on the Belarusian authorities to cancel the anachronistic accreditation procedure that violates people's right to access to information.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic raised this question during her official visit to Minsk on 15-16 September 2014.