The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of at least eight Belarusian journalists, who were among 52 political prisoners freed on Thursday as the United States announced it was lifting sanctions on Belarus’ national airline.
“CPJ celebrates that at least eight Belarusian journalists can finally return to their families after being freed from prison. They were unjustly detained for years and shouldn’t have spent a day in jail,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Many more journalists remain languishing in Belarusian jails in retaliation for their work and we call on authorities to release them all.”
Journalists released on September 11 included:
- Iryna Slaunikava of Poland-based Belarusian broadcaster Belsat TV. Detained since October 2021.
- Belsat TV’s Pavel Mazheika. Detained since August 2022.
- Freelancer Yauhen Merkis. Detained since September 2022.
- Freelancer Larysa Shchyrakova. Detained since December 2022.
- Alyaksandr Mantsevich, editor-in-chief of regional Rehiyanalnaya Gazeta. Detained since March 2023.
- Freelancer Alena Tsimashchuk. Detained since October 2023.
- Freelance camera operator Vyacheslau Lazarau. Detained since February 2023.
- Freelance camera operator Pavel Padabed. Detained since January 2023.
The list also included Ihar Losik, a blogger and social media consultant for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), detained since June 2020 and sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2021. CPJ did not include him in its prison census because his activities went beyond journalism and extended into activism.
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In 2024, three journalists were released after being pardoned by President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Belarus also released three more journalists this year, ahead of September 11’s releases.
Belarus was the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists, with at least 31 journalists behind bars on December 1, 2024, when CPJ conducted its most recent prison census.
Committee to Protect Journalists
