Practicing independent journalism in an authoritarian state borders on heroism. Belsat TV journalists have been persecuted by the Belarusian regime practically from the day the station came on the air in 2007. Over the years, Belsat TV journalists and camera operators have been subjected to frequent detentions and searches, harassed with subpoenas, penalized with fines, and even sentenced to jail. Belsat TV associates have been beaten and intimidated. Some of them were persecuted at universities. In addition, their family members sometimes had to endure oppression at work.

Belsat TV crews have had their equipment confiscated many times. Prosecutors and police officers have searched Belsat TV’s editorial offices in Minsk and “secured” its computers and television studio equipment.

Indictments against Belsat TV associates in Belarus have cited various paragraphs of the law depending on what the political powers-that-be needed at the time, but these charges were never based on any facts. Until this day, the authorities in Minsk have not permitted Belsat TV to officially register an office in Belarus and they have consistently rejected requests for press accreditation for Belsat TV journalists.

You can help pay the fines which Belarusian courts impose on independent journalists for reporting reliable information to the public.