Belarus: Journalists imprisoned, exiled and persecuted
Media facing intensified crackdown
The plight of journalists in Belarus persecuted for just doing their job is being highlighted by the International Federation of Journalists, backed by the NUJ.
Currently, 37 journalists remain behind bars and 39 media organisations have been declared ‘extremist formations’, five years after President Aleksander Lukashenko’s latest fraudulent electoral victory.
Journalists and media in the country face an intensified crackdown, including disproportionate prison sentences. This has led to a worrying erosion of press freedom, further weakening civil society.
On 25 July, freelance journalist Danil Palianski, who has worked with multiple TV channels, both private and state-owned, was charged with ‘high treason’ in a closed-door trial in Belarus.
He has been sentenced to ten years in prison with an additional court-ordered fine of $7,135. Palianski was detained in September 2024. As court proceedings in the country often remain classified, the reasons for the charges are largely undisclosed, making it difficult to legally challenge the verdict.
Under Lukashenko’s 31-year-long regime, this is not an isolated case. The sentencing of journalists is often reported as collaboration with an extremist entity, production of extremist content, organising mass unrest, inciting social hatred, and state treason.
The NUJ joins the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists’ (BAJ), in calling for the immediate release of all journalists and media workers unjustly imprisoned.
The IFJ is demanding that the authorities cease the criminalisation of journalism, as well as the harassment of journalists in Belarus, in exile and their family members.
The BAJ was labelled an ‘extremist group’ in 2023 and is the only independent and democratic association of Belarusian media representatives. Despite recurring persecution targeting the organisation, it fights to protect journalists’ rights and to monitor the media.
The BAJ has documented statistics of repression against journalists in Belarus. In 2024, there was a worrying rise of ‘silent repressions’, where law enforcement systematically pressures victims into not disclosing their persecution.
As a result of these threats, BAJ refrained from disclosing many victims’ identities for the year 2024, to avoid endangering them further. The organisation believes that some cases have not been reported at all, due to the intimidation of journalists and their families. Twenty-one cases of harassment have so far been noted for 2025.
The families of exiled journalists are persecuted, harassed with interrogations, and constantly threatened with punishment.
As journalists in Belarus are imprisoned and forced to flee their country, organisations fighting for press freedom lose their workforce, reducing their capacity to improve the situation.
The IFJ said:
“The restriction of free speech and erosion of press freedom under Lukashenko's regime has been crushing journalists' rights to practise their profession in any capacity. Belarusian authorities must stop harassing and intimidating journalists.
"We demand the immediate and unconditional release of our unjustly imprisoned colleagues and we express our solidarity with those who were forced into exile and continue to live under the threat of arbitrary arrest.”