MINSK -- Belarusian state broadcaster ONT has aired the third part of its propaganda series, Svaboda Slova (Freedom of Speech), about RFE/RL journalists who are accused by authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime of trying to "set Belarus on fire."
The 20-minute program on January 16 spotlighted Ihar Karney, a former journalist with RFE/RL's Belarusian Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda, who was arrested in 2023 and sentenced to three years in prison on "extremism" charges.
It showed Karney, thin, stooping, and obviously exhausted, being led to an interview in handcuffs, which were taken off as he was pressed against a wall. He was filmed in the courtyard of a KGB detention facility wearing a black prison jacket and knitted cap, his breath visible in the freezing air.
The interview was conducted by propagandist Andrey Alyaksandrau (aka Kozel), who has become notorious for accompanying security forces during politically motivated arrests.
RFE/RL has a long-standing policy of not quoting statements made by imprisoned people under duress.
The program concluded with a trailer for the upcoming episode featuring opposition activist and lawyer Yuras Zyankovich, a dual Belarusian-American citizen who is jailed in the so-called "conspirators' case."
Belarus is holding a presidential election on January 26. Lukashenka, who has been in power since 1994, is expected to win a seventh term.
ONT started the Freedom of Speech series on January 14 with an episode showing RFE/RL journalist Andrey Kuznechyk. The next day it featured another RFE/RL journalist, Ihar Losik, illustrating the regime's continued persecution of independent media and the opposition.
Karney was convicted in March 2024 for alleged participation in an "extremist group" and sentenced to three years in prison. While in prison, his term was extended by 10 months for "violating internal order of the penitentiary."
Losik was arrested in June 2020 and sentenced in December 2021 to 15 years imprisonment for "organizing mass riots, participating in mass disorders, inciting social hatred," and other less clearly specified counts. Losik has been held repeatedly in solitary confinement, staged a hunger strike, and engaged in self-mutilation to protest his imprisonment.
Kuznechyk was detained in November 2021 and sentenced in June 2022 to six years for allegedly forming an "extremist formation." He denies all the charges.
The arrests came after the mass protests of 2020 when tens of thousands took to the streets to challenge the result of a presidential election widely regarded as rigged. The response of the security forces was a violent crackdown; more than 30,000 people were arrested, many of whom reported torture and ill-treatment while in custody.
The clampdown has compelled most opposition politicians to flee the country for their own safety.
Many Western governments still refuse to recognize the outcome of the 2020 election or Lukashenka as president of Belarus.
Since August 2020, the Belarusian authorities have been methodically dismantling independent media. Radio Svaboda's website was blocked, its Minsk office was raided, and its journalists were stripped of their accreditations. In December 2021, the regime labeled Radio Svoboda's content "extremist" and criminalized its operations.
Currently, 42 representatives of independent media are imprisoned in Belarus, which ranks 167th out of 180 in the Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.