World News | Belarus Closes Journalist Organisation, Continuing Crackdown
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. Belarus has ordered the closure of the country's largest independent journalists' organisation, the latest move by authorities to suppress critical reporting in a yearlong crackdown on dissent.
Kyiv (Ukraine), Aug 28 (AP) Belarus has ordered the closure of the country's largest independent journalists' organisation, the latest move by authorities to suppress critical reporting in a yearlong crackdown on dissent.
Friday's order by the country's supreme court to liquidate the Belarusian Association of Journalists follows the jailing of some 30 journalists, raids on newspaper offices, blocking the websites of major independent media and closing the PEN Centre writers' organisation that was headed by Nobel literature laureate Svetlana Alexieveich.
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Belarus also cancelled accreditation for foreign news organisations after massive protests began in August 2020 following presidential elections that official but disputed results say gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. Lukashenko has led the former Soviet republic since 1994.
The formal reason for the order was that two of the BAJ's six branches allegedly ended their lease contracts. The organisation denied the accusation, but was unable to provide supporting documents, since the organisation's office was sealed after searches and confiscation of equipment in July.
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“We will continue to do our job, regardless of the decision of the courts, which clumsily fulfil the political order of the authorities,” BAJ head Andrei Bastunets told The Associated Press.
“Expanding the space for freedom of speech has been the mission of the organisation for over a quarter of a century, but now the darkest times have come in Belarus.” (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)