Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya: “I started this morning, like many others, with Obychnoe Utro. I skimmed the headlines and checked the latest updates on repression. It’s become a routine for me – even on days packed with meetings and speeches during official visits. But thanks to the work of independent media, I can speak about Belarus at the highest international level.
The regime in Belarus is retaliating against journalists. It has imprisoned dozens of professionals: Larysa Shchyrakova, Ihar Losik, Maryna Zolatava, Katsiaryna Andreyeva, and many others. They weren’t convicted for crimes – they were punished for exposing corruption, documenting violence, and revealing what the authorities wanted to hide.
Press freedom is not just about journalists. It’s about what matters to all of us – knowing what’s happening in our towns and villages, in our schools and hospitals. It is a safeguard to ensure that problems don’t disappear into silence – and that they have a chance to be solved.
Journalism should serve the people. It should ask uncomfortable questions and demand answers from those in power. Why is there no heating in the school? Why didn’t the ambulance arrive? Why is the hospital short on medicine?
Hundreds of Belarusian journalists have been forced into exile. Yet even from abroad, they continue their work – despite pressure, repression, and the label of ‘extremism’. I deeply admire how they keep searching, investigating, and explaining: Why are prices rising? Why are there long lines at clinics? Where and how is Russia expanding its presence in Belarus? They cover what state media either keeps silent about or only reports on with dictated talking points.
And we can support independent journalists by reading their work, and – when it’s safe – by commenting, subscribing, sharing, and donating. Because as long as independent journalism lives, so does the connection between us. We know what’s happening in Lepel, Ivatsevichy, and Chavusy. And that brings us just a little bit closer to one another”.
