Committee to Protect Journalists calls on official Minsk to stop the persecution of journalist Iryna Khalip and not force her to leave Belarus.This is said in a statement posted on the organization’s website.
“The Belarusian authorities have sunk to a new low by trying to intimidate independent journalist Iryna Khalip into exile,” – said Muzaffar Suleymanov, the representative of the organization, – “They must repudiate the remarks of the Minsk City Police official who tried to bully Khalip into permanently leaving the country and lift the travel ban on her completely”.
After protests against the election results on 19 December, 2010 Khalip was accused of organizing mass riots. On 16 May, 2011 Iryna Khalip  was given a two-year suspended prison sentence.Now, according to the sentence, Khalip should check in at the police station regularly. So a few days ago when the journalist came to Partyzanski police department of Minsk for checking in accordance to her sentence, she was advised to leave the country and did not come back.
Aliaksandr Kupchenia, head of the corrections department of the Minsk City Police Directorate , met her and started shouting at her, demanding she should leave the country as soon as possible. “We have opened the border for you, but you do not go? Just admit it, you were not going anywhere. You would never think the permission could be given to you. But against your expectation, you were given it. So go! Take your child, claim asylum, and do not return here. Nobody needs you here! All you do is spread false information, “- he said.

Problems with freedom of speech in Belarus are announced in Vienna

On 21 February Zhanna Litvina (left), the Chairperson of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, was among Belarusians, who represented the country at the meeting of the General Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE.
“At such conferences it becomes obvious what our country looks like in the European context , – said Head of the NGO “Belarusian Association of Journalists. ” – For example, Karin Deutsch, the representative of Freedom House, named Belarus among the countries where media freedom is “worst of the worst” …”
The discussion on Belarus lasted for about three hours, within its framework Zhanna Litvina also had an opportunity to speak.
“Of course I could not avoid speaking about access to information, and prosecution for professional activities, and about the criminal prosecution of journalists which has become common practice in our country . Of course, I mentioned Anton Surapin and Andrzej Poczobut, we discussed the criminal record of Iryna Khalip and Pavel Seviarynets,” – said the chairperson of journalists’ organization.

UN launches campaign for the safety journalists

On 22 February, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for the safety of journalists and announced the launch of a grassroots campaign “A Day Without News.”
The campaign aims at drawing attention to the journalists who have been intimidated, arrested and prosecuted.  ” Every week, a journalist is killed simply for doing his or her job. Nine out of ten cases go unpunished , “- said the Secretary-General in his video message.
Ban Ki-moon stressed that in the last ten years, more than 600 journalists have been murdered during the performance of their duty. Many more suffer from intimidation, harassment and death threats.”
Last year, a hundred and twenty one journalists had been killed. A third of them are the victims of violence in Syria.
“Every murder represents a day without news”, – said the head of the United Nations. He stressed that the safety of journalists and the issue of impunity for those who attack them mean the protection of freedom of expression and the right to life, freedom and security.
The Secretary-General recalled the United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity.
 

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