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mein the ARD camera crew he was temporarily arrested in Minsk after reporting on the protests in Belarus. The three employees were arrested in front of their hotel and held overnight at a police station, the WDR announced in Cologne on Saturday. They were released in the morning. According to WDR, their accreditation was withdrawn. The same happened with the correspondents of the AFP news agency, the British BBC and the American radio station Radio Liberty.
The authoritarian government recently cracked down on journalists. The day before, around 50 journalists were temporarily in police custody, including a camera crew from ZDF. DW correspondent Alexandra Boguslawskaja was arrested Thursday night in the city center of Minsk. Boguslavskaya and other journalists were taken to the police station without prior notice and were not asked to leave the scene. Before her release, the journalist was told, despite the complete and repeated delivery of the works, that “an administrative process would be initiated against her for journalistic work without accreditation.” The Belarusian Interior Ministry later confirmed to DW that the administrative process had already been suspended.
Maas: “Not acceptable”
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) has condemned the actions of the Belarusian government against representatives of the media. “If journalists are arbitrarily and without any legal basis and prevented from doing their important work by withdrawing their work permit, that is not at all acceptable,” Maas said Saturday night in Berlin. “This attack on press freedom is another dangerous step towards greater repression rather than dialogue with the population.” Diplomatic circles said that the Belarusian ambassador in Berlin would be summoned to the Foreign Ministry in a timely manner.
The German embassy deals with “interested German media journalists” and “intervened at a high level against the arrests that night.” “We expressly reserve the right to take further measures,” the minister added.
In view of the actions of the Belarusian authorities against members of the opposition and the media, Maas considers it justified “that we in the EU initiate targeted sanctions, including those responsible for electoral manipulation and violence against protesters.” However, it is just as important “to work for a broad and inclusive dialogue as the people of Belarus ask for”. The Minsk government should “urgently accept” an offer from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Maas appealed.
Attack on freedom of the press
WDR program director Jörg Schönenborn said of the preliminary arrest of the ARD team: “I am dismayed by the current events and I consider dealing with our team in Minsk to be absolutely unacceptable.” The incident shows that independent reporting in Belarus is becoming increasingly difficult. and made almost impossible, he said. “As a public service announcer, however, we will not be intimidated and we will do everything in our power to ensure that our journalists can continue to report critically and independently on events, protests and demonstrations in Belarus,” emphasized Schönenborn. According to WDR, the Russian cameraman and the Russian camera assistant were expelled from the country. The Belarusian producer will go to court on Monday.
DW Editor-in-Chief Manuela Kasper-Claridge spoke of an attack on press freedom. “These so-called personal document controls are flimsy attempts to prevent independent reporting and hide information from people,” he said.
The Belarusian Association of Journalists spoke of a massive withdrawal of accreditations of representatives of the Belarusian media who worked for foreign radio or television stations, newspapers and news agencies. On Saturday alone, 17 work permits were initially revoked. The authorities apparently want to prevent the protests from being reported.
Since the controversial elections about three weeks ago, there have been demonstrations across the country against President Alexander Lukashenko, who is claiming victory with 80.1 percent of the vote.
