Freedom of Speech or «Extremism»? Lukashenko’s ongoing crack-down on independent media in Belarus

Attention has shifted to Russia's aggression in Ukraine, while little is known about the human rights violations in Belarus. This article highlights five Belarusian media whose editors or entire outlets were declared extremists by the state.

In 2021, Belarus ranked 158 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. This Index is an assessment of press freedom in almost all countries of the world and is compiled annually by the non-governmental organization "Reporters Without Borders"¹. Alongside Myanmar, Reporters Without Borders named it as one of the two big new prisons for media personnel and recognized it as the most dangerous European country for journalists. This article highlights five Belarusian media whose editors or entire outlets were declared extremists by the state.

For 28 years, Alexander Lukashenko has been ruling the country with a hard hand and Russia as his closest partner. The authoritarian head of state does not allow fair elections in Belarus. In 2020, after rigged elections, he entered his sixth term, which made people take to the streets to protest. The rallies, however, were violently dispersed. At the same time, the regime began to restrict freedom of speech more and more by applying arbitrary interpretations of such terms as "extremism", "extremist materials" and "terrorism". More than 100 journalists have been detained; 37 media workers and their family members are still in prison².

Olga Loiko and Elena Tolkachiova, the journalists from TUT.BY – once the most popular independent media in Belarus – were declared "terrorists" by the KGB for "inciting hatred" and "calling for sanctions and other actions aimed at undermining state security". KGB was the main security agency in the USSR. After the collapse of the latter, the name remained in use in the Republic of Belarus, where it stood for the chief government agency which carries out internal security, foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence and secret police functions. In October 2022, Ljudmila Chekina, TUT.BY’s former CEO, and Marina Zolotova, its editor-in-chief, were also added to the list of "terrorists".

By October 2021, 270 NGOs had been closed and 13 mass media outlets labelled as "extremists", according to the UN Human Rights Report. The same verdict has been passed on over 100 Telegram channels. Administrative and criminal charges are pressed on their subscribers or users sharing links to them in social media (with a maximum penalty of 7 years imprisonment). As of October 13, 2022, 1,345 persons have been regarded as political prisoners – 1,345 times higher than in 2019, as stated by the 'Viasna' Human Rights Centre.

Now the regime is silencing the last critical voices. Every day, people are intimidated, arrested and tortured. However, repressions against independent media are not something which started in Belarus after the latest election campaign in 2020: Lukashenko has been attempting to eliminate free press and the freedom of speech, assembly and expression since the moment he came to power in 1994. One of the first shocking cases of persecution was related to cameraman Dzmitry Zavadsky, who disappeared in 2000. Before his abduction, the man had repeatedly received threats on the phone. Zavadsky’s body was never found.

Zavadsky's colleague, Pavel Sheremet, was also doomed by his profession. In 1994-1995, Sheremet had been the presenter and producer of "Prospekt", a weekly analytical programme on Belarusian television. In 1997, Sheremet was one of the spokespersons and signatories of "Charter 97", a pro-democracy movement based on a manifesto calling for an end to the "violation of basic human rights and freedoms by the government of President Alexander Lukashenko". In 2016, Sheremet was killed when a car bomb exploded in Kyiv.

One might think that by leaking independent media, the Russian and Belarusian propagandists are the only ones who can disseminate information on their channels. But that is only formally the case. The level of digital literacy in Belarus is much higher than in the neighbouring countries. Since 2009, the percentage of Internet users has increased from 24% to 60%, making it the second most popular form of news consumption, while the level of trust in state media is traditionally low: only 30%. Belarusians are adept at using VPNs, "virtual private networks", a digital system which allows the user to access online content which is banned in their territory. People can hide their real public IP address and "tunnel" the traffic between their device and the remote server to access the banned media.

The biggest problem of the crackdown on independent media in Belarus is not the lack of information for its own population, but for the international public. Attention has shifted to Russia´s aggression in Ukraine, while little is known about the human rights violations in Belarus, which are so widespread that they could be called an "invisible war" against the people of Belarus by dictator Lukashenko.