Journalists Face Widespread Crackdown After Belarus Vote

白俄罗斯投票后记者面临广泛镇压

2020-08-25 19:00 multilingual

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Following the August 9 presidential election in Belarus, journalists reported on widespread protests that broke out in opposition to what they claimed was the fraudulent re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko. Chief among the protesters’ demands is that the president resign from his 26-year rule. In an effort to quell the unrest, officials in Belarus have blocked more than 50 news media websites originating from a variety of sources and language backgrounds. The blockade came soon after Belarus state-run publishing house Vysheysha Shkola halted the printing of prominent independent newspapers Narodnaya Volya and Komsomolskaya Pravda, citing malfunctioning press equipment. This was the third time the newspapers faced disruption of their press since the election in early August. Narodnaya Volya is printed in Belarusian, an East Slavic language, as well as Russian — which is also an official language of Belarus. Komsomolskaya Pravda is a Russian-language paper. Responding to the crackdown, the Belarusian Association of Journalists — which include sites for US-funded Radio Liberty, Polish-funded satellite TV channel Belsat, and Minsk-based EuroRadio — have expressed concern about the government’s attempts to control the narrative through suppressing journalism. “The Belarusian Association of Journalists links the blocking of internet resources and the disruption of print publications with the government’s attempt to block information about post-election protests in the country,” the journalists’ association said in a statement. “We consider such actions indirect censorship and obstruction of the legitimate activities of media in Belarus. These actions not only violate the rights of journalists and the media, but also restrict the constitutional right of citizens to receive complete, reliable and timely information.” Along with press blockades, Belarus authorities have also beaten, detained, and denied entry to dozens of reporters, according to the association. The crackdown has drawn international criticism, with the International Press Institute and many other press watchdogs, including PEN America, the European Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the UN-run Internews, which all penned an open letter demanding protection for reporters. President Lukashenko won the election with 80% of the votes, though critics in Belarus and abroad, including the opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, claim the results were falsified. Tsikhanouskaya has expressed support for the protests, which sent around 200,000 demonstrators to the capital last weekend. “We are closer than ever to our dream,” Tikhanovskaya said in a video message from Lithuania, where she took refuge after the election. The protests in Belarus are happening at a time when unrest against government corruption is global, including against the most recent federal police crackdowns in Portland.
在白俄罗斯8月9号总统选举之后,记者们报道了爆发的大规模抗议活动,抗议他们所称的亚历山大卢卡申科总统的舞弊连任。抗议者的要求主要是让总统辞去他26年的统治。为了平息骚乱,白俄罗斯官员封锁了50多个新闻媒体网站,这些网站的来源和语言各不相同。 白俄罗斯国营出版社Vysheysha Shkola以新闻设备故障为理由,停止了著名独立报纸《Narodnaya Volya》和《共青团真理报》的印刷。这是自8月初大选以来,各大报纸第三次面临媒体中断的局面。《Narodnaya Volya》用白俄罗斯语和俄语印刷,前者是一种东斯拉夫语,后者也是白俄罗斯的官方语言。共青团真理报是一份俄语报纸。 作为对镇压的回应,白俄罗斯记者协会(包括美国资助的自由电台,波兰资助的卫星电视频道Belsat和总部位于明斯克的EuroRadio的网站)对政府试图通过压制新闻来控制新闻报道的做法表示了担忧。 白俄罗斯记者协会在一份声明中表示:“白俄罗斯记者协会将封锁互联网资源和破坏印刷出版物与政府封锁该国选举后抗议信息的企图联系在一起。”“我们认为这种行为是对白俄罗斯媒体合法活动的间接审查和阻碍。这些行为不仅侵犯了记者和媒体的权利,也限制了公民获得完整、可靠和及时信息的宪法权利。” 据该协会称,除了封锁媒体,白俄罗斯当局还殴打,拘留和拒绝数十名记者入境。这次镇压行动招致了国际社会的批评,国际新闻学会和许多其他媒体监督机构,包括美国笔会,欧洲记者联合会,无国界记者组织和联合国运营的Internews,它们都写了一封公开信,要求保护记者。 尽管白俄罗斯国内外的批评人士,包括反对派候选人斯维亚特拉·齐哈努斯卡娅,声称选举结果是伪造的,卢卡申科总统还是以80%的选票赢得选举。Tsikhanouskaya对抗议活动表示支持,上周末大约有20万示威者前往首都。“我们比以往任何时候都更接近我们的梦想,”Tikhanovskaya在立陶宛的一段视频信息中说,她在选举后在立陶宛避难。 白俄罗斯的抗议活动发生之时,正值全球反对政府腐败的动乱,包括反对联邦警察最近在波特兰的镇压行动。

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