London, June, 8 2021 – The Justice for Journalists Foundation and its Media Risk Map partners monitoring attacks on media workers in the post-Soviet space call on international organisations and governments of all countries to do their utmost to secure the early release of all incarcerated media workers and to end the barbaric violations of their rights. According to the JFJ’s experts, at least 84 media workers from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Crimea, Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are awaiting trial in detention or under house arrests, or have already been sentenced to long-term imprisonment and are held in prisons and prison camps.
Such actions by governments are undemocratic and violate two fundamental human freedoms: the right to liberty (article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) and the right to just and favourable conditions of work(article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, as of June, 8 2021, 33 media workers are detained in Belarus. At least 42 Russian and Crimean professional and citizen journalists are imprisoned or held under house arrest in Russia and Crimea. All these journalists, as well as nine incarcerated media workers in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have been deprived of their liberty just for fulfilling their professional duties by reporting objectively and independently.
More information about attacks on journalists, bloggers and media workers is available on JFJ Media Risk Map and in the Incidents Database.
Below is a list of media workers who currently in prisons as of June 8, 2021:
AZERBAIJAN
- Polad Aslanov, the editor-in-chief of the Xeberman and Press-az news websites
- Elchin Mammadli, editor-in-chief of the Yüksəlişnaminə newspaper
- Afgan Sadigov, the head of the online publication Azel.Tv
- Aslan Gurbanov, blogger
- Elchin Hasanzade, blogger
- Ibrahim Turksoy, blogger
BELARUS
IN PRISONS AND PRISON CAMPS:
- Roman Protasevich, ex-editor in chief of social media news channel NEXTA
- Katsyaryna Andreyeva, Belsat journalist
- Darya Chultsova, Belsat journalist
- Yulia Slutskaya, founder of the Press Club Belarus
- Siarhei Alsheusk, director of the Press Club Belarus
- Alla Sharko, program director of the Press Club Belarus
- Petr Slutski, camera operator of the Press Club Belarus
- Ksenia Lutskina, former journalist of the state TV channel Belarus 2
- Andrey Alexandrov, journalist and media manager
- Denis Ivashin, investigative journalist of the international community InformNapalm, collaborates with the newspaper Novy Chas
- Andrey Pochobut, journalist
- Lyudmila Chekina, general director at TUT.BY
- Marina Zolotova, editor-in-chief at TUT.BY.
- Olga Loyko, editor-in-chief at TUT.BY
- Elena Tolkacheva, TUT.by journalist
- Alla Lapatko, chief engineer at TUT.BY
- Maria Novik, deputy chief accountant at TUT.BY
- Irina Rybalko, deputy accountant at TUT.BY
- Daria Danilova, project manager at TUT.BY
- Andrei Avdeed, manager atTUT.BY
- Angela Assad, chief accountant at TUT.BY
- Alexander Daineka, deputy general director for Technical Affairs at TUT.BY
- Sergey Povalishev, CEO of Hoster.by
- Igor Losik, blogger, administrator of Telegram-channel Belamova (Belarus Golovnogo Mozga)
- Sergey Petrukhin, blogger, YouTube channel Narodny Reporter
- Alexander Kabanov, blogger, YouTube channel Narodny Reporter
- Vladimir Tsyganovich, blogger, MozgON
- Vladimir Neronsky. YouTube channel “Slutsk dlya zhizni” (Slutsk for Life)
- Dmitry Kozlov, blogger “Seryy kot” (Gray Cat)
- Sergei Tikhanovsky, YouTube channel Country for Life
UNDER HOUSE ARREST:
- Yulia Chernyavskaya, widow of the founder of TUT.BY
- Ekaterina Tkachenko, lawyer of TUT.BY
- Irina Kostyuchenko, former lawyer of TUT.BY
CRIMEA
IN PRISONS AND PRISON CAMPS:
- Vladislav Esipenko, freelancer, Crimea. Realities, Radio Liberty
- Server Mustafayev, coordinator, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Seyran Saliev, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Timur Ibragimov, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Marlen Asanov, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Remzi Bekirov, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity, correspondent for Grani.Ru
- Ruslan Suleimanov, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Osman Arifmemetov, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Rustem Sheikhaliev, citizen journalist, Crimean Solidarity
- Oleksiy Bessarabov, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the “Chernomorskaya bezopasnost” magazine, member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine
UNDER HOUSE ARREST:
- Amet Suleimanov, streamer,Crimean Solidarity
RUSSIA
IN PRISONS AND PRISON CAMPS:
- Nikolay Babarika, blogger
- Aleksandr Valov, editor-in-chief and founder of local news site BlogSochi
- Vladimir Vorontsov, the founder of the Police Ombudsman
- Abdulmumin Gadzhiev, religion section editor of the independent newspaper Chernovik
- Andrey Deineko, blogger
- Ayrat Dilmukhametov, politician, publicist
- Aleksandr Dorogov, co-deputy chief editor of Rosderzhava
- Pavel Zelensky, a camera operator for Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK)
- Ismail Isaev, blogger
- Yan Katelevskiy, Rosderzhava co-deputy chief editor
- Alexander Kolomeitsev, video blogger
- Maxim Lavrentiev, Rosderzhava journalist
- Konstantin Lakeev, blogger
- Ivan Lyubshin, blogger
- Salekh Magamadov, blogger
- Rashid Maysigov, a former journalist of news outlet Fortanga
- Alibek Mirzekhanov, blogger
- Dmitry Nadein, video blogger
- Boris Obraztsov, Tridevyatyy region
- Daria Polyudova, blogger, political activist
- Andrei Pyzh, YouTube blogger
- Ramilya Saitova, activist, blogger
- Zarifa Sautieva, a former journalist of news outlet Fortanga
- Ivan Safronov, a former journalist of Kommersant and Vedomosti
- Aytahadzhi Halimov, blogger
- Malika Dzhikaeva, blogger
UNDER HOUSE ARREST:
- Sergey Kamensky, blogger
- Armen Aramyan, DOXA
- Alla Gutnikova, DOXA
- Vladimir Metelkin, DOXA
- Natalia Tyshkevich, DOXA
UZBEKISTAN
- Miraziz Bazarov, blogger
- Otabek Sattoriy, blogger
TURKMENISTAN
- Nurgeldi Halykov, freelance correspondent of Turkmen.News
The organizations who signed the statement:
- Justice for Journalists Foundation (London)
- Khaled Aghaly – lawyer and specialist in media law in Azerbaijan
- Committee to protect freedom of expression (Armenia)
- Belarussian Association of Journalists (Belarus)
- Oleg Panfilov – journalist and writer. He has won various international prizes and is a Cavalier of Georgia’s Order of Honour (Georgia)
- International Foundation for protection of freedom of speech Adil Soz (Kazakjstan)
- Human Rights Centre ZMINA (Crimea)
- School of Peacemaking and Media Technology (Kyrgyzstan)
- Association of Independent Press of Moldova (API)
- Turkmen.news (Turkmenistan)
- Sergei Naumov – freelance journalists for Fergana.ru and IWPR (Uzbekistan)
- National Union of Journalists in Ukraine (Ukraine)
- Association Grani (France)