Belarus’s Supreme Court has stripped the Belarusian Association of Journalist’s (BAJ) ability to offer protection to journalists who are not officially authorised, such as opposition newspapers, websites and foreign news outlets.These journalists could now face 15 days in jail. BAJ president Zhanna Litvina said yesterday that this will discourage independent media coverage in the run-up to the elections. This comes a week after Charter97, an opposition website and are a nominee for this year’s Index On Censorship Freedom of Expression awards had its offices raided and its head of press beaten.