Andrei Bastunets: International Organizations, Structures Monitor Situation In Belarus

The harassment of independent freelance journalists over political grounds continues in Belarus.

Over the past month, several Radio Racyja journalists have been punished with administrative fines by the Belarusian authorities.

The journalists talked with the chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) Andrei Bastunets about the difficulties of the reporters’ work and the fight for freedom of expression.

- On the eve of the New Year holidays each organization sums up certain results, make certain conclusions. Has this year been successful for your organization?

- This year was quite complicated, both for our organization and for the whole independent media community. Two main negative issues should be noted - the persecution of journalists and the changes in the media legislation. As for the prosecution, here we remember blocking of websites, and the harassment of freelance journalists for the cooperation with foreign media and, of course, the “BelTA case”. With regard to the changes in the law, it is something that will influence the course of events in the next year and further on. This is a long-term impact. And we see that these changes are taking place in the direction of greater rigidity of legislation, and focus primarily on regulation of activities on the Internet, and by activity it is not only the media that is meant, but also everyone who uses the Internet. The state is the main aggressor against journalists, against freedom of expression.

- How are things going in support of the Belarusian independent journalism in the international community?

- The international community supports Belarus, although we have said recently that Belarus somehow fell out of the most important sphere of interest of certain countries, institutions, as there were sorer points, for example, the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the problem of migration, the Brexit.

We see a lot of problems, which detract from our country. And we understand that these problems are significant. But international organizations and structures are monitoring the situation in Belarus. This is evidenced by the fact that the European Parliament in its resolution notes a bad situation in Belarus, including pressure on freelancers. The issue of the freelancers’ fines was on the agenda of the “Human Rights Dialogue” between the EU and the Republic of Belarus for several years.

When the “BelTA case” occurred in August, when everyone seemed to be on vacation, all the international organizations - the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the European Union and the world's major media, reacted to this. So I am expressing here the great gratitude to these institutions and the media, which do not allow us to fall out of the field of view of those who look at the map of Europe.