AEJ supports Belarus journalists' demands for media freedom as elections approach

The Association of European Journalists, representing more than 1000 journalists in more than 20 countries, deplores and condemns the Belarus government's controls, interference and threats of closure or prosecution of independent media in the country and we call urgently for an end to those abuses of democratic amd media freedoms.

The AEJ supports the 19 January 2010 statement of the Belarus Association of Journalists on the Situation of the Mass Media and Freedom of Expression in Belarus and calls on the authorities there to accept at once the BAJ's concrete proposals for enabling independent and professional media coverage of the forthcoming local and presidential elections. These include ending all forms of suppression and interference with independent media, taking steps to ensure proper media and public access to information from all candidates, and bringing Belarus media laws quickly into conformity with international standards.

The AEJ further calls on the Belarus president, parliament and all governmental authorities to end all forms of harassment against the BAJ and to allow the association to carry out its normal professional activities unhindered.

Signed: William Horsley, AEJ Media Freedom Representative and Peter Kramer, AEJ Secretary-General