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“The EBU has been closely following the repression of media freedom in Belarus and has consistently called on the EBU member organization BTRK to uphold our core values of freedom of expression, independence and responsibility,” the statement said. “Since last summer’s contested elections, we have campaigned for independent journalism and freedom of expression in the country. We have publicly supported BTRK journalists who opposed government interference. We have also followed the coverage of the BTRK and expressed our concerns to the company’s management.”
“In recent weeks, we have been particularly concerned about the broadcasting of interviews, which appears to have been the result of pressure. We have followed other BTRK broadcasts on this issue, which has raised other serious and largely extreme concerns,” the EBU said.
“In the light of these extraordinary developments, the Board has no alternative but to call for the suspension of BTRK’s membership of the EBU,” the statement said. “The BTRK has two weeks to respond before the decision to suspend takes effect.”
Belarus provokes global outrage by forcing airlines to land in Minsk on Sunday “Ryanair“flight to Athens-Vilnius plane to detain Roman opposition journalist Roman Protasevich.
The Belarusian authorities shut down the largest independent web media, tut.by, this month.
The crackdown on the independent media and the official course of critical journalists, as well as domestic and foreign media, has consistently been one of the hallmarks of the repression of Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, which has become even more pronounced since last summer’s rigged presidential election.
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