The IPI global network today condemns the acceleration of repression against independent media in Belarus after five more journalists were sentenced to prison on politically motivated charges in just over one week.
On March 9, the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ), a union operating from exile, reported the sentencing to nine years in prison of Pavel Dabravolsky, a journalist who had previously worked for independent news agency BelaPan as well as Ukrainian online outlet NV.ua.
Dabravolsky left Belarus in 2021, after serving a 15-day prison sentence for participating in protests against the falsified re-election of Alexander Lukashenko. He returned home in the autumn of 2024 and was detained several months later. The journalist has remained behind bars since then on charges of high treason. While Belarusian authorities did not communicate any details regarding Dabravolsky’s case, according to BAJ his jailing was directly linked to his work as a journalist.
On March 6, BAJ additionally reported on the sentencing to two years in prison of Tsina Palynskaya. A journalist from the city of Polatsk, Palynskaya was likely sentenced for conducting surveys for an independent Belarusian analytical centre which the Lukashenko regime later designated as an “extremist formation”.
Prior to this, on March 4 a court in Minsk sentenced radio host Aleh Khamenka to three years in prison on charges of “facilitating extremist activities”.
Several days earlier, a court in the western city of Brest sentenced two prominent regional journalists, Uladzimir Yanukevich and Andrei Pakalenka, to 14 and 12 years in prison, respectively, on charges of “high treason”.
“The recent sentencing of five journalists in Belarus over a very short period of time serves as a reminder to the international community that the Lukashenko regime continues its efforts to silence all independent reporting in Belarus, now holding nearly 30 media workers behind bars on politically motivated charges,” said IPI Eastern Europe Press Freedom Advisor Karol Łuczka. “While in recent months some of these prisoners were able to leave Belarusian prisons as a result of deals between the Trump administration and the Lukashenko regime, the vast majority are still in jail on unjust charges, where they face incredible pressure and where their physical safety is often at risk. IPI stands in solidarity with these Belarusian journalists, calls for more international attention to their situation, and demands their release. The international community must also continue to include journalists in their push for the release of political prisoners in Belarus.”
As of March 2026, at least 28 media workers remain behind bars in Belarus, making the country one of the worst jailers of journalists in the world.