Belarusian Opposition Leader in France to Discuss Disastrous Press Freedom Situation in her Country

Islamabad; 17 Sep 2021 – Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya visited the international headquarters of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in Paris to discuss the disastrous press freedom situation in her country.

The former presidential candidate and RSF staff members discussed the difficulties that independent journalists and media have faced since President Alexander Lukashenko’s fraudulent election in August 2020.

According to RSF’s tallies, there have been more than 460 arrests of journalists since that election, and around 30 journalists and media workers are currently detained, facing the possibility of several years in prison in grossly unfair trials. Since the autumn of 2020, the authorities have stepped up the harassment of those who run independent media outlets and their best-known writers.

This unprecedented crackdown culminated in late August with the baseless dissolution of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), the pillar of the defence of press freedom in Belarus for 25 years.