The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) condemns the establishment of branches of the Russian Union of Journalists (RUJ) in the Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Russia. The EFJ calls on RUJ to renounce these settlements and reaffirms its solidarity with its Ukrainian affiliates, the journalists’ unions NUJU and IMTUU. On Monday, the Russian Union of Journalists announced on its website that the organisation’s leadership had decided to establish four new branches in the Ukrainian territories illegally annexed by Russia on 30 September: in Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The RUJ statement said that this was the main decision taken by…

The Minsk City Court has found journalist Ales Lubyanchuk guilty of allegedly founding or participating in an extremist group. The journalist was sentenced to 3 years in prison. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) demand his immediate release. The EFJ joins its affiliate BAJ in denouncing the sentence against Ales Lubyanchuk. BAJ considers the verdict by Judge Alena Ananich as a revenge for his years of professional commitment. The EFJ and BAJ demand that Ales and other media representatives imprisoned for political reasons are released. “We once again call on international organisations to…