Press Club Belarus remains committed to its principles

On Decem­ber 22nd, the author­i­ties unex­pect­ed­ly lev­elled tax eva­sion alle­ga­tions against the Club, detained a num­ber of our col­leagues and searched their offices and homes.

Our work has always been guid­ed by prin­ci­ples of trans­paren­cy, impar­tial­i­ty, sol­i­dar­i­ty and open dia­logue. We con­sis­tent­ly worked to strength­en the media com­mu­ni­ty and build effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion between busi­ness, offi­cial­dom, civ­il soci­ety, media organ­i­sa­tions and oth­er stake­hold­ers, always show­ing sol­i­dar­i­ty with jour­nal­ists and media who have come under pres­sure for their pro­fes­sion­al activ­i­ties.

Our rep­u­ta­tion over the last five years has been impec­ca­ble. We regard the trust placed in us by our part­ners, col­leagues, and friends as price­less.

Yulia Slut­skaya, Sergey Olshevsky, Alla Sharko, Sergey Yakupov, and Petr Slut­sky are prin­ci­pled, cre­ative, ded­i­cat­ed pro­fes­sion­als com­mit­ted to first-class stan­dards of jour­nal­ism and build­ing an inde­pen­dent media sec­tor. They are cre­ators, not destroy­ers, in love with their work, and with Belarus.

Today our col­leagues are behind bars. Lawyers are tak­ing all pos­si­ble steps to ensure their imme­di­ate release. We are con­vinced that the arrest of the Press Club mem­bers was a mis­take, and trust that an impar­tial enquiry into all the facts will result in the release of our col­leagues and dis­missal of the crim­i­nal file. How­ev­er, this pre­sumes that the inves­ti­ga­tion con­tin­ues to act with­in the legal frame­work rather than degen­er­at­ing into polit­i­cal­ly moti­vat­ed per­se­cu­tion.

We are grate­ful to all those who expressed sup­port for the Press Club and our detained col­leagues, who are like­ly to cel­e­brate New Year in a prison cell.

Well-wish­ers can send them a let­ter or a post­card to the address below enclos­ing an emp­ty enve­lope and a stamp (if you are in Belarus): СИЗО‑1, улица Володарского, 2, Минск, 220030.

To whom:

• Юлия Витальевна Слуцкая / Yulia Vital­iev­na Slut­skaya

• Сергей Сергеевич Ольшевский / Sergey Sergeye­vich Olshevsky

• Алла Вячеславовна Шарко / Alla Vyach­eslavov­na Sharko

• Сергей Сергеевич Якупов / Sergey Sergeye­vich Yakupov

• Пётр Александрович Слуцкий / Peter Alexan­drovich Slut­sky

Alter­na­tive­ly, you can do so via online ser­vices: письмо.бел. 

Our strength is in sol­i­dar­i­ty!

The Press Club con­tin­ues oper­a­tions and remains com­mit­ted to its prin­ci­ples. We now have an addi­tion­al goal – the release of our col­leagues.

The Press Club Belarus Team