European Politicians Told About Blocking Of Charter 97 In Belarus

Independent journalists have appeared publicly in Paris and Brussels.

Independent journalist Volha Chaichyts and Larysa Shchyrakova visited Paris and Brussels to tell European politicians and journalists about the real situation with the media in Belarus, to draw attention to the persecution of Belarusian journalists and look together for possible solutions, the website of the Belarusian Association of Journalists reports.

During the visit, the journalists had meetings with politicians and official representatives of EU structures and France – representatives of the European Parliament, the Office on Neighborhood Policy, the Eastern Partnership Program, the office of the Council of Europe, and deputies of the National Assembly of France.

Within the visit, there were organized round-table discussions and press conferences, meetings with French and Belgian journalists, members and leaders of numerous associations and journalistic organizations.

Volha Chaichyts and Larysa Shchyrakova told about the pressure on journalists from the independent media in Belarus, continuous judicial prosecution, huge fines, detentions and interruptions when gathering information, threats to take away children, ungrounded persecution by officers of court, psychological attacking and unconcealed surveillance.

The journalists told about the general situation with the freedom of speech. In particular, they mentioned interruptions in the work of the TV channel Belsat, blocking of the websites Charter97.org and Belaruspartisan.org at the beginning of the year, criminal cases against bloggers, and the BelTA case.