BAJ recognized in Belarus as “extremist formation”
The Belarusian KGB included the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) in the “list of formations involved in extremist activities”. The list published on the website of the Ministry of Internal Administration indicates that the respective resolution was approved on February 28, with March 7 being indicated as the date of inclusion in the list.
The document notes that “a group of citizens among the representatives of the non-governmental public organization ‘Association of Journalists of Belarus’ carries out extremist activities”, the organization classified as “extremist formations”. The head of the association Andrey Bastunets, its deputies Alexander Starikevich, Alina Surovets, Boris Goretsky and Oleg Ageev, as well as journalists Dmitry Lukashuk, Sergey Komlach and Olga Khvoin were named participants or owners of the BAJ.
BAJ was liquidated in August 2021 by decision of the Supreme Court of Belarus. The formal reason for the closure of the activities of the organization was the complaint of the Ministry of Justice “in connection with the lack of measures to eliminate violations of the BAJ and the repeated violation (after written warning) of the law”.
In April 2022, the Association of Journalists of Belarus received the UNESCO Prize for Freedom of Expression. The jury noted the great merits of the BAJ in keeping the media independent in Belarus under the repressive conditions of the Alexander Lukashenko regime.
Currently, the list of “extremist formations” includes 121 positions. In particular, it includes the team of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the Coordinating Council of the Opposition of Belarus, Sergei Tikhanovsky’s Internet resources “Country for Life”, publications “Nasha Niva”, “Belsat”, BelaPAN and many other civil and media .
Source: DW
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