European Federation of Journalists

European Federation of Journalists

Belarus: Journalists imprisoned, exiled and persecuted five years after fraudulent presidential election

Picture credit: BAJ.
  •    News
  •   10-08-2025

The persecution of journalists in Belarus for exercising their profession is commonplace under President Aleksander Lukashenko’s regime. Five years after 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. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and their affiliate, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), in calling for the immediate release of all journalists and media workers unjustly imprisoned. We demand that the authorities cease the criminalisation of journalism, as well as the harassment of journalists in Belarus, in exile and their family members.

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. Detained since September 2024, he has been sentenced to 10 years in prison with an additional court-ordered fine of $7,135. 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 more often than not reported as collaboration with an extremist entity, production of extremist content, organising mass unrest, inciting social hatred, and state treason. In 2025, 37 journalists remain behind bars, and 39 media organisations have been declared ‘extremist formations’. BAJ was labelled as such in 2023. The BAJ 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 sphere.

Throughout the years, 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 pressured 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 beennoted for 2025.

The fraudulent Belarusian elections of 9 August 2020 generated an intense wave of press freedom attacks in the country, aimed at eliminating dissent and combating the rights of journalists with draconian punishment measures. This has led to the extreme suppression of journalism and of civil society at large.

Journalists in Belarus are forced into exile, and their work is labelled as extremist material. They face the constant risk of arrest in their home country, preventing them from exercising their basic civil rights, such as buying and selling property or renewing their passports. Lukashenko’s regime has made it impossible for the country’s journalists to practise their profession in any capacity that deviates from the official narrative.

Not only is this crackdown on press freedom eroding the journalistic sphere, it is also weakening civil society. The families of exiled journalists are persecuted, harassed with interrogations, and constantly threatened with punishment. The fabric of a democratic society is greatly weakened, due to the creation of an environment fuelled by fear. As journalists in Belarus are imprisoned and forced to flee their country, organisations fighting for press freedom lose their workforce, diminishing 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”.