A court in Minsk sentenced investigative journalist Sergei Satsuk to eight years in prison on Wednesday. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its affiliate the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) denounce this illegitimate conviction and demand his immediate release. Judge Sviatlana Bandarenka sentenced Sergei Satsuk, the editor of the Ezhednevnik news website, for alleged charges of “inciting hatred”, “official misconduct” and “accepting bribes”. The 58-year-old was detained in December 2021 after authorities searched his home and office. He is the latest journalist to be jailed in the authoritarian country, which has been ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko since 1994. Satsuk’s…

On 25 October 2022, eleven journalists were arrested following raids on their homes in the cities of Ankara, Istanbul, Van, Diyarbakir, Urfa and Mardin in Turkey. The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ/EFJ) join their affiliates, the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) and the Press Labour Union (DİSK Basın-İş) in urging the authorities to immediately release the detained journalists and stop the raids on their homes. According to IFJ and EFJ affiliates, Turkish authorities raided the homes of 10 journalists as part of “terrorism-related” investigations led by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. According to DISK, the journalists were…