Belarus: Press freedom violations April 2019

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Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”12 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]

Bank account of freelance journalist arrested over not having paid fines for work without accreditation

30 April 2019 – Homel freelancer Andrei Tolchyn was summoned to the executor in conjunction with his four unpaid fines and told that his bank account had been arrested and he would have ten days to pay them.

He was sentenced to heavy fines for ‘illegal production of media content’ without accreditation for the TV channel Belsat. The total amount of the fines is 3200 Belarusian rubles (1,523 dollars).

Update:

Tolchyn’s account was unlocked after the fines had been paid.

Link: https://baj.by/be/content/u-zhurnalista-frylansera-andreya-tolchyna-aryshtavali-rahunak-u-belarusbanku

https://baj.by/be/content/belarusbank-razblakavau-rahunak-zhurnalista-frylansera-raney-zablakavany-z-za-shtrafau

Category: Legal Measures

Source of violation: State Agency

Two Brest freelancers fined

18 April 2019 – Freelance journalists Ales Liauchuk and Milana Kharytonava were fined 1,275 Belarusian rubles (about 600 dollars) each for their cooperation with Belsat TV without accreditation. The decision was taken by the chairperson of the Brest district court.

Link: https://belsat.eu/ru/news/brestskih-nezavisimyh-zhurnalistov-snova-oshtrafovali-bolshie-dengi-vzyskali-s-tretej-popytki/

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Police, Court

Leading independent media not accredited to annual message of president Lukashenko

18 April 2019 – Journalists for the leading news website TUT.BY, the news agency BelaPAN, the newspaper Belorusy I Rynok, and European Radio for Belarus were not accredited to cover the annual message of Alexander Lukashenko to the people and the National Assembly on 19 April 2019.

Two of them, BelaPAN`s Tattyana Karavenkova and special correspondent for European Radio for Belarus Zmitser Lukashuk, are permanently accredited in the parliament.

Link: https://baj.by/be/content/zhurnalistau-nedzyarzhaunyh-smi-ne-akredytavali-na-paslanne-lukashenki

Category: Blocked Access

Source of violation: State Agency

Blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin sentenced to large fine in criminal trial

18 April 2019 – A judge for the Leninski district court of Brest passed a sentence in the criminal case against blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin. He was convicted under Art. 188 (Slander) and Art. 189 (Insult) of the Criminal Code. The reason for initiating his criminal case was an appeal of a police officer over a video on the blogger`s YouTube channel Narodnyj Reportior.

The blogger was fined around 9180 Belarusian rubles (4,590 dollars). Piatrukhin was also obliged to recompense moral damage to four policemen. In total the blogger has to pay 8,840 dollars. In addition, the judge also ordered him to pay legal fees.

This amount should be paid within a month. It is also reported that the blogger made a written undertaking not to leave a place and his property was distrained.

Link: http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/18/330954/

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Court

Journalist with photo camera banned from entering into local government premises

Correspondent for the independent newspaper Hazeta Slonimskaya Krystsina Saladukha who came to make pictures of the exhibition of a housing building project launched a day before was banned from entering into the building of Slonim local government in the Hrodna region. A security guard told her she was not entitled to pass people with photographic equipment without a special permission.

Link: https://baj.by/be/content/zhurnalistka-pryyshla-sfatagrafavac-praekt-yae-navat-ne-puscili-u-rayvykankam

Category: Blocked Access

Source of violation: Public official

Freelance journalist Lupach fined twice for a month

15 April 2019 – Hlybokaye-based freelance journalist Zmitser Lupach stood trial in the Sharkaushchyna district court for contributing to Belsat TV without accreditation. A judge imposed on him a fine of 892.5 Belarusian rubles (about $440) over his news story about the weak economy situation and low salaries in the district.

Link: https://belsat.eu/en/news/collecting-negative-opinions-freelance-journo-fined-for-contributing-to-belsat-tv/

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Police, Court

Freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets fined the second day in a row

12 April 2019 – In Brest, freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets fined 765 Belarusian rubles (364 dollars) following a police report under Article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offences for “production of information content for a foreign media outlet which was not accredited in the Republic of Belarus.” His article titled Activists And Independent Journalists Not Allowed Into the Press Conference at the I-Power Plant had appeared on the website of Belarusian Radio Racyja based in Poland.

Link: https://baj.by/be/content/sud-bresckaga-rayona-pakarau-frylansera-yaugena-skrabca-chargovym-shtrafam

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Police, Court

Freelance journalist fined in Mahiliou

11 April 2019 – A judge in the Leninski district court of Mahiliou ruled to fine freelance journalist Alina Skrabunova 1275 Belarusian rubles (approximately 600 dollars). She was found guilty of “participation in the illegal production of media content” as her video on the opening of an inclusive cafe where wheelchair users work had been broadcasted on the TV channel Belsat.

Link: https://baj.by/be/content/za-syuzhet-pra-lyudzey-z-invalidnascyu-zhurnalistku-pakarali-shtrafam-u-50-bazavyh

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Police, Court

Freelance journalist fined in two cases

11 April 2019 – The Hlybokaye district court fined independent journalist Zmitser Lupach 1,020 Belarusian rubles ($485) in total in two cases. He was tried under Article 22.9 (illegal production and/or distribution of media content) and under Article 23.34 (violation of the procedure for organizing or conducting mass events) of the Code of Administrative Offences. In the first case, the journalist was punished for his report on the TV channel Belsat and, in the second case, for raising a white-red-white flag during Freedom Day, the anniversary of the Belarusian People’s Republic.

Link: http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/11/330183/

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Police, Court

Freelance journalist fined in Brest

11 April 2019 – The Leninski district court of Brest considered a case against freelance journalist Yauhen Skrabets under Article 22.9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses over his working for a foreign media outlet without accreditation. The police report states he “interviewed without accreditation, thus violating the rights and obligations of a foreign media journalist.” As a result, a judge fined the journalist BYN 765 ($364).

Link: http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/11/330204/

Category: Fines

Source of violation: Police, Court

Police raid Belsat TV office in Minsk

9 April 2018 – Police searched the office of Belsat TV channel in Minsk under a search warrant of the Investigative Committee. An official representative of the Investigative Committee Siarhei Kabakovich confirmed that the search was carried out as part of the investigation of a slander case under Article 188 of the Criminal Code.

In the summer 2018 Belsat TV journalist Ales Zaleuski prepared a video story about corruption at the Minsitry of Health Care, reporting about arrest of Aleh Shved, head of the state-owned enterprise Medtechnocenter. However, the text version on the channel’s website did not repeat the video. The text said, Aleh Shved was arrested together with his brother Andrei, head of the State Committee of Forensic Examination. Editors corrected the mistake and published the retraction immediately after the mistake was noticed. However, Andrei Shved addressed Minister of the Interior asking to prosecute me under criminal charges. In November 2018, the Investigation Committee decided there were no grounds to start criminal proceedings.

However, in January 2019 Minsk city prosecutor’s office instigated a new investigation and brought the case back to the Investigative Committee. Zaleuski believes, there are no other criminal cases against the TV channel staff. According to the journalist, they are looking for the person who published the text under the video story on the website. They have already carried out interrogations with a video camera. The witnesses in the case are Ales Zaleuski, cameraman Aliaxander Lubianchuk, and Belsat representatives Aliaksei Minchonak and Iryna Slaunikava.

During the search, the police seized two computer system units, three laptops, and all data storage media.

Update: Two days later all the equipment seized was returned to Belsat TV.

Link(s): https://belsat.eu/en/news/investigators-raiding-belsat-tv-office-in-minsk/

https://baj.by/en/content/minsk-police-raid-and-search-belsat-office-slander-charges-office-has-been-crushed

http://charter97.link/en/news/2019/4/9/329891/

https://baj.by/en/content/minsk-office-belsat-gets-back-equipment-seized-during-recent-search

Categories: Interrogation, Attack to Property

Source of violation: State Agency, Police

Police hinder journalist’s work while demolishing crosses in Kurapaty

4 April 2019 – Deputy head of the Minsk police department Siarhei Udodau barred journalists from working in Kurapaty near Minsk, where builders were demolishing crosses erected around a people’s memorial to the victims of Stalin’s repressions.

When Deutsche Welle Pauliuk Bykouski said that, under the law, he is entitled to be present at the place of public events, Udodau threatened to detain him for disobeying the police. A similar incident occurred with the correspondent of the Belarusian service of Radio Liberty Aleh Hruzdzilovich.

Euroradio’s Raman Pratasevich said a man in civilian clothes elbowed the journalist’s camera and stood in front of the photographer to hinder filming how the crosses were being demolished. Belsat TV cameraperson Iryna Arakhouskaya was also prevented from recording. Before that, men in civilian clothes prevented journalists from filming the detention of protesters.

Links: https://baj.by/be/content/fakty-perashkodau-u-pracy-zhurnalistau-padchas-padzey-u-kurapatah-4-krasavika

Category: Blocked Access, Physical Assault

Source of violation: Police

Ministry of information bans distribution of BelGazeta issue through newsstand chain

2 April 2019 – An issue of the weekly BelGazeta was withdrawn from the newsstand chain Belsayuzdruk on the recommendation of the ministry of information. The number contained, in particular, humorous pieces and a cartoon on cows. This was due to the fact that President Lukashenko roughly criticized the sanitary condition of the cows on a farm in the Shklou district and this was followed by the deprivation of a number of officials at various levels.

BelGazeta editor-in-chief Kiryl Zhyvalovich visited the ministry of information and had a conversation with the minister. Zhyvalovich refused to specify which articles the ministry had claims against, he just noted that there were several such materials.

Regarding this incident, the Minister of Information Aliaksandr Karliukevich said that “it is unacceptable when media outlets or websites, intentionally hyperbolizing critical claims, falling into open vulgarity and loutishness.”

Links: http://mininform.gov.by/news/all/v-ministerstvo-informatsii-postupilo-neskolko-obrashcheniy/

https://euroradio.fm/ru/belgazeta-mu

https://belsat.eu/ru/news/sistemnoe-hamstvo-i-hamskaya-sistema/

Category: Censorship

Source of violation: State Agency[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1560774544760-b343356b-4693-5″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Azerbaijan: Press freedom violations April 2019

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Index on Censorship’s Monitoring and Advocating for Media Freedom project tracks press freedom violations in five countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine. Learn more.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_custom_heading text=”6 Incidents” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]

Journalist sentenced to 12 years in jail

30 April 2019 – Editor of qafqaznews.az Mahmud Tagiyev was sentenced to 12 years reported Azerbaijan Service for Radio Free Europe.

Tagiyev was found guilty on charges of extortion.

The journalist refutes the accusation and says he is being framed. In his statement, Taghiyev said this was a punishment for his attempt to receive full payment of the property he has sold to an employee of the Prosecutor Office but was unable to receive the payment since the sale of the property. The criminal investigation against the journalist was opened February 8, 2019.

Links:

https://open.az/hadise/azerbaycanda-xeber-agentliyinin-rehberine-cinayet-isi-acildi.html

http://www.tezadlar.az/index.php?newsid=44654

https://ona.az/az/hadise/mahmud-tagiyeve-12-il-hebs-cezasi-verilib-9168

https://www.azadliq.org/a/sayt-r%C9%99hb%C9%99ri-12-il-azadl%C4%B1qdan-m%C9%99hrum-edilib/29912713.html

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Criminal Charges/Fines/Sentences; Legal Measures

Source of violation: Court/Judicial; Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party

Journalist called in for questioning at the Organized Crime Unit

24 April 2019 – Editor of an online news site az24saat.org Vugar Gurdganli was invited for questioning at the Chief Organized Crime Unit in Baku, reported independent online new platform Meydan TV.

Gurdqanli wrote on his Facebook that he received a phone call from a man who introduced himself as an employee of the Crime Unit and asked that Gurdqanli came in for questioning. The journalist said he told the man on the phone that he needs to see an official letter of complaint first before he comes in. Gurdqanli also mentioned that he asked what this questioning was about, but was only told that there has been a complaint against him.

Gurdqanli suspects this call was linked to previous threats he has been receiving after re-publishing a story that was first released by Meydan TV about Ramil Usubov, the Minister of the Interior and his business empire.

Gurdqanli’s website az24saat.org has been blocked for access since 2018.

Links: https://www.meydan.tv/az/article/sayt-redaktoru-meydan-tv-nin-yazisina-gore-bandotdele-cagirildigini-dusunur/?ref=search

https://meydan.tv/az/article/polis-coreyi-ve-ya-usubovlarin-biznesi/?ref=homepage-feature-articles

https://www.abzas.net/2019/04/redaktor-bu-yazi-d%C9%99rc-edildikd%C9%99n-sonra-bir-nec%C9%99-d%C9%99f%C9%99-h%C9%99d%C9%99-qorxu-almisam/

https://www.humanrightsclub.net/x%C9%99b%C9%99rl%C9%99r/2019/jurnalist-bandotdel-%C9%99-cagirilib/

Categories: Arrest/Detention/Interrogation; Intimidation; Blocked Access

Source of violation: Police/State security

News Agency refused accreditation to cover Formula 1 race

24 April 2019 – Turan News Agency, the only remaining independent news agency was refused accreditation to cover the Formula 1 race that will take place between 26 – 28 April, reported independent Meydan TV.

The accreditation was denied by the Baku City Circuit, the main company in charge of organising the race.

Turan News Agency applied for accreditation already in January but the request was denied on no grounds said Turan News Agency in a statement.

The agency considered this decision intentional and continuation of state policy on restricting freedom of the speech. The agency received accreditation in 2017-2018.

Links:

https://meydan.tv/az/article/turan-informasiya-agentliyi-formula-1-yarismasinin-teskilatcilarini-diskriminasiyada-ittiham-edib/?ref=homepage-news

http://www.turan.az/ext/news/2019/4/free/Want%20to%20Say/az/80433.htm

https://www.amerikaninsesi.org/a/turan-i%CC%87nformasiya-agentliyi-formula-1-t%C9%99r%C9%99find%C9%99n-diskriminasiyan%C4%B1-pisl%C9%99yir/4887629.html

Categories: Blocked access

Source of violation: Corporation/company

Audio recording between two journalists leaked

9 April 2019 – US based Azerbaijani journalist Sevinc Osmangizi confirmed that a phone conversation with another journalist based in Germany was leaked by a pro-government news platform in Azerbaijan, reported Azadliq Radio, Azerbaijan Service for Radio Free Europe.

Osmangizi believes the conversation with the said journalist was recorded outside of their knowledge and that it was done by the special services in Azerbaijan.

Neither the authorities nor the news outlet that aired the conversation have commented on the developments.

The audio recording that was leaked took place several weeks ago before it was leaked and the two discussed possible project together.

Update:

26 April 2019 – After releasing the exchange between Osmangizi and another journalist, the authorities have now threatened Osmangizi to release intimate footage of the journalist, reported multiple sources in Azerbaijan and internationally.

Osmangizi is threatened by another journalist, formerly with Azerbaijan News Agency, Mirshahin Agayev who now heads a pro-government media platform Real TV.

In a video Osmangizi shared on her own YouTube channel, Osmangizi says, nothing is going to prevent her from doing her work, even such tricks as this one.

Osmangizi previously received death threats against her and her family.

Links: https://www.azadliq.org/a/sevinc-osmanq%C4%B1z%C4%B1-t%C9%99hl%C3%BCk%C9%99sizliyi-il%C9%99-ba%C4%9Fl%C4%B1-m%C3%BCraci%C9%99t-edib/29872316.html

https://www.facebook.com/kriminalpress/posts/1005561049641079

https://chai-khana.org/en/azerbaijans-ans-death-of-a-tv-station

https://www.facebook.com/AmnestyUKFormerSovietUnion/photos/rpp.411814202351103/1068344913364692/?type=3&theater

https://cpj.org/2016/10/azerbaijani-tv-journalists-receive-death-threats.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQCxqfgA-Cg&t=35s

Categories: Intimidation, Online Defamation/Discredit/Harassment/Verbal Abuse, Offline Defamation/Discredit/Harassment/Verbal Abuse

Source of violation: Police/State security, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party, Known private individual(s), Another media

Independent news website blocked

9 April 2019 – arqument.az has been rendered inaccessible and eventually blocked without any official notification to the editors, reported independent online news site Meydan TV.

The website’s editor Shamshad Aga speaking to the media, said, the website was subject to DDoS attacks before it was made completely inaccessible.

While it was possible to access the website through a VPN on April 8, as of April 9, this was no longer the case.

Argument.az was also blocked in 2018.

Links: https://mappingmediafreedom.ushahidi.io/posts/22551

https://www.meydan.tv/az/article/arqumentaz-saytina-giris-bloklanib/?ref=search

Categories: Blocked Access, DDoS/Hacking/Doxing

Source of violation: Police/State security; Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party; Unknown

Blogger not allowed to leave the country

9 April 2019 – Former political prisoner, Mehman Huseynov was prevented from leaving the country reported Azadliq Radio, Azerbaijan Service for Radio Free Europe.

Huseynov was released from jail in March 2019 after having served the two year jail term.

Huseynov has been unable to leave the country for eight years.

The blogger had planned to travel to Berlin and Strasbourg to attend a conference organized by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. He was also scheduled to participate at a conference on journalists’ safety in Vienna, organized by the OSCE representative on freedom of the media.

Update: 13 April 2019 – Huseynov was finally allowed to leave Azerbaijan

Background:

Popular video blogger Mehman Huseynov was sentenced to two years in prison on defamation charges by the Surakhani district court. He was arrested in the courtroom, Azadiiq reported.

Nasimi district police chief Musa Musayev brought a lawsuit against Huseynov, claiming the blogger lied when he said that he had been tortured when he was detained in January 2017. Huseynov is the first person to be arrested for slander in Azerbaijan.

The blogger is the administrator of popular Facebook page Sancaq which has over 300,000 subscribers. He shares videos claiming to expose high level corruption among Azerbaijani officials.

Huseynov was detained on 9 January in central Baku, by a group of plain-clothed police officers. He was held incommunicado overnight allegedly for violating administrative rules. The next day, court fined him 200AZN (€100) on charges of disobeying the police (Article 535.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). Speaking to journalists following his brief detention, Huseynov said police placed a sack over his head and used force against him during the detention. On 11 January, his lawyer Elchin Sadigov published pictures showing traces of torture on Huseynov’s body and blood stains on his clothes.

UPDATE: 12 April 2017 – Blogger Mehman Huseynov’s appeal was rejected by the Baku court of appeal, independent Azerbaijan service for Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty reported.

Huseynov’s lawyer Elchin Sadigov said they will file an appeal to the supreme court, and described the appeal court’s decision as illegal and failing to observe legal norms.

UPDATE: 25 June 2018 – The Azerbaijan Supreme Court upheld the two-year prison sentence handed down to Mehman Huseynov in March 2017, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijan service reported.

Huseynov was not present at the hearing. His lawyer said the case would now be taken up with the European Court of Human Rights.

UPDATE: 24 August 2018 – A regional court in Garadag ruled against the motion for conditional release of the blogger Mehman Huseynov, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Azerbaijan Service reported.

Speaking to Azadliq Radio, Huseynov’s lawyer Shahla Humbatova said the court reached its decision on the basis of a report submitted by the administration of the penitentiary where Huseynov is being held. The report concluded that Huseynov had failed to reform during his time in jail.

UPDATE: 26 December 2018 – New charges are being brought against Mehman Huseynov on the grounds that he “resisted a representative of the authorities with the use of violence dangerous to his health and life” – an accusation that Huseynov denies. If found guilty, he could face a further seven years in jail, the website of the international free expression website Ifex reported.

The new charges were brought just two months before he was due to be released from jail.

On the same day as the fresh charges were brought, Mehman announced that he was going on hunger strike. He refused to drink water until 30 December, but after this severe health complications forced him to start drinking water.

Huseynov suffers from a severe case of varicose vein rupture, and a prison doctor has recommended immediate medical intervention to stop the internal bleeding.

UPDATE: 7 January 2019 – Mehman Huseynov broke off his hunger strike and started to drink liquid dairy products after suffering from stomach pains, the pan-Caucasus website JAM News reported.

UPDATE: 15 January 2019 – Around a dozen people in Azerbaijan have begun hunger strikes as an act of solidarity with imprisoned blogger Mehman Huseynov, JAM News reported.

Five political prisoners have begun hunger strikes in prison, JAM said, adding that award-winning Azerbaijani reporter Khadija Ismaylova joined the hunger strike on 15 January to show her solidarity with political prisoners in the country.

Seven of those who began hunger strikes since the beginning of the year are members of the opposition party Musavat, including the deputy chairman of the party, Tofik Yaqublu. Two of the Musavat members have since broken off their hunger strikes.

UPDATE: 22 January 2019 – The Azerbaijani authorities announced that they are dropping the latest criminal charges brought against imprisoned blogger Mehman Huseynov, who has already spent more than two years in jail, Trend news agency reported.

The country’s Prosecutor General issued a statement saying that “The criminal case against Mehman Huseynov has been cancelled.”

The statement said that the decision to drop the charges had been taken after human rights defenders and Huseynov himself appealed directly to President Ilham Aliyev “to ensure the objectivity of the investigation.”

It noted that, based on the president’s recommendation, “The criminal case on Mehman Huseynov was terminated due to the fact that he is a young man, was not subject to disciplinary liability during his term of punishment, took the path of reform, and his old father is in need of care.”

Trend said that Aliyev, “for whom the principles of justice and humanism are always a priority, took the appeals into account and gave recommendations to the General Prosecutor’s Office to conduct an objective investigation of the criminal case, to take all necessary measures provided by law to make a fair and humane decision.”

The agency added that “the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan warns those who, for the sake of personal interests and political goals, are trying to create an artificial fuss around Mehman Huseynov, as well as the media spreading false information about him, that any illegal actions aimed at violating stability and tranquillity in the country will resolutely be stopped within the framework of the law.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty noted that the latest move comes after large-scale demonstrations in Baku in support of Huseynov and the adoption of a European Parliament resolution calling for his immediate release.

Links: https://mappingmediafreedom.ushahidi.io/posts/20892

https://www.azadliq.org/a/mehman-h%C3%BCseynov-m%C9%99ni-girov-kimi-saxlamaq-ist%C9%99yirl%C9%99r-/29870043.html

https://www.meydan.tv/en/article/blogger-mehman-huseynovs-travel-ban-lifted/?ref=article-related-artciles

https://cpj.org/2019/04/azerbaijani-blogger-mehman-huseynov-blocked-from-l.php

Categories: Intimidation, Blocked Access

Sources of violation: Police/State security, Government/State Agency/Public official(s)/Political party, Court/Judicial[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1575027709088-0979c989-ce0b-2″ taxonomies=”8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

#IndexAwards2019: Here’s what you need to know

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Each year, the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards gala honours courageous champions who fight for free speech around the world.

Drawn from more than 400 crowdsourced nominations, this year’s nominees include artists, journalists, campaigners and digital activists tackling censorship and fighting for freedom of expression. Many of the 15 shortlisted are regularly targeted by authorities or by criminal and extremist groups for their work: some face regular death threats, others criminal prosecution.

The gala takes place on Thursday 4 April in London and will be hosted by comedian Nish Kumar.

We will be live tweeting throughout the evening on @IndexCensorship. Get involved in the conversation using the hashtag #IndexAwards2019.

Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards nominees 2019

Arts

for artists and arts producers whose work challenges repression and injustice and celebrates artistic free expression

ArtLords | Afghanistan

ArtLords is a grassroots movement of artists and volunteers in Afghanistan who encourage ordinary citizens, especially women and children, to paint the issues that concern them on so-called blast walls: walls the country’s rich and the powerful have built around themselves to protect them from violence while the poor fend for themselves. Their work has turned a symbol of fear, tension and separation into a platform where social issues can be expressed visually and discussed in the street. ArtLords has completed over 400 murals in 16 provinces of Afghanistan. In March 2018, for International Women’s Day, ArtLords painted a tribute to Professor Hamida Barmaki, a human rights defender killed in a terrorist attack six years ago.

Full profile

Zehra Doğan | Turkey

Released from prison on 24 February 2019, Zehra Doğan is a Kurdish painter and journalist who, during her imprisonment, was denied access to materials for her work. She painted with dyes made from crushed fruit and herbs, even blood, and used newspapers and milk cartons as canvases. When she realised her reports from Turkey’s Kurdish region were being ignored by mainstream media, Doğan began painting the destruction in the town of Nusaybin and sharing it on social media. For this she was arrested and imprisoned. During her imprisonment she refused to be silenced and continued to produce journalism and art. She collected and wrote stories about female political prisoners, reported on human rights abuses in prison, and painted despite the prison administration’s refusal to supply her with art materials.

Full profile

ElMadina for Performing and Digital Arts | Egypt

ElMadina is a group of artists and arts managers who combine art and protest by encouraging Egyptians to get involved in performances in public spaces, defying the country’s restrictive laws. ElMadina’s work encourages participation — through storytelling, dance and theatre — to transform public spaces and marginalised areas in Alexandria and beyond into thriving environments where people can freely express themselves. Their work encourages free expression in a country in which public space is shrinking under the weight of government distrust of the artistic sector. ElMadina also carry out advocacy and research work and provide a physical space for training programmes, residencies and performances.

Full profile

Ms Saffaa | Saudi Arabia / Australia

Ms Saffaa is a self-exiled Saudi street artist living in Australia who uses murals to highlight women’s rights and human rights violations in Saudi Arabia. Collaborating with artists from around the world, she challenges Saudi authorities’ linear and limited narrative of women’s position in Saudi society and offers a counter-narrative through her art. Part of a new generation of Saudi activists who take to social media to spread ideas, Ms Saffaa’s work has acquired international reach. In November 2018, she collaborated with renowned American artist and writer Molly Crabapple on a mural celebrating murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that read, “We Saudis deserve better.”

Full profile

Campaigning

for activists and campaigners who have had a marked impact in fighting censorship and promoting freedom of expression

Cartoonists Rights Network International | United States / International

Cartoonists Rights Network International (CRNI) is a small organisation with a big impact: monitoring threats and abuses against editorial cartoonists worldwide. Marshalling an impressive worldwide network, CRNI helps to focus international attention on cases in which cartoonists are persecuted and put pressure on the persecutors. CRNI tracks censorship, fines, penalties and physical intimidation – including of family members, assault, imprisonment and even assassinations. Once a threat is detected, CRNI often partners with other human rights organisations to maximise the pressure and impact of a campaign to protect the cartoonist and confront those who seek to censor political cartoonists.

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Institute for Media and Society | Nigeria

The Institute for Media and Society (IMS) is a Nigerian NGO that aims to improve the country’s media landscape by challenging government regulation and fostering the creation of community radio stations in rural areas at a time when local journalism globally is under threat. Three-quarters of television and radio stations in Nigeria are owned by politicians, and as a result they are divided along political lines, while rural communities are increasingly marginalised. IMS’s approach combines research and advocacy to challenge legal restrictions on the media as well as practical action to encourage Nigerians to use their voices, particularly via local radio. IMS also tracks violations of the rights of journalists in Nigeria.

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Media Rights Agenda | Nigeria

Media Rights Agenda (MRA) is a non-profit organisation that has spent the last two decades working to improve media freedom and freedom of expression in Nigeria by challenging the government in courts. While the constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, other laws – including the sections of the Criminal Code, the Cybercrimes Act and the Official Secrets Act – limit and even criminalise expression. Through its active legal team, MRA has initiated strategic litigation targeting dozens of institutions, politicians and officials to improve the country’s legal framework around media freedom. Its persistent campaigning and lawsuits on freedom of information have helped improve access to government-held data.

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P24 | Turkey

P24 (Platform for Independent Journalism) is a civil society organisation that aims to neutralise censorship in Turkey — a country in which speaking freely courts fines, arrest and lengthy jail sentences. P24’s pro bono legal team defends journalists and academics who are on trial for exercising their right to free expression. It also undertakes coordinated social media and public advocacy work that includes live-tweeting from courtrooms and campaigning through an array of websites, newsletters and exhibition spaces. Its latest effort aims to provide spaces for collaboration and free expression in the form of a literature house and a project connecting lawyers and artists.

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Digital Activism

for innovative uses of technology to circumvent censorship and enable free and independent exchange of information

Fundación Karisma | Colombia

Fundación Karisma is a civil society organisation that challenges online trolls by using witty online ‘stamps’ that flag up internet abuse. It is an initiative that uses humour to draw attention to a serious problem: the growing online harassment of women in Colombia and its chilling effect. The organisation offers a rare space to discuss many issues at the intersection of human rights and technology in the country and then tackles them through a mix of research, advocacy and digital tools. Karisma’s “Sharing is not a crime” campaign supports open access to knowledge against the backdrop of Colombia’s restrictive copyright legislation.

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Mohammed Al-Maskati | Middle East

Mohammed al-Maskati is a digital security consultant who provides training to activists in the Middle East and in North Africa. Working as Frontline Defenders’ Digital Protection Consultant for the MENA Region, Mohammed teaches activists – ranging from vulnerable minorities to renowned campaigners taking on whole governments – to communicate despite government attempts to shut them down. He educates them on the use of virtual private networks and how to avoid falling into phishing or malware traps, create safe passwords and keep accounts anonymous. As governments become more and more sophisticated in their attempts to track and crush dissent, the work of people like Al-Maskati is increasingly vital.

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SFLC.in | India

SFLC.in (Software Freedom Law Centre) tracks internet shutdowns in India, a crucial service in a country with the most online blackouts of any country in the world. The tracker was the first initiative of its kind in India and has quickly become the top source for journalists reporting on the issue. As well as charting the sharp increase in the number and frequency of shutdowns in the country, the organisation has a productive legal arm and brings together lawyers, policy analysts and technologists to fight for digital rights in the world’s second most populous country. It also provides training and pro-bono services to journalists, activists and comedians whose rights have been curtailed.

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Journalism

for courageous, high-impact and determined journalism that exposes censorship and threats to free expression

Bihus.info | Ukraine

Bihus.info is a group of independent investigative journalists in Ukraine who – despite threats and assaults – are fearlessly exposing the corruption of many Ukrainian officials. In the last two years alone, Bihus.info’s coverage has contributed to the opening of more than 100 legal cases against corrupt officials. Chasing money trails, murky real estate ownership and Russian passports, Bihus.info produces hard-hitting, in-depth TV reports for popular television programme, Nashi Hroshi (Our Money), which illuminates discrepancies between officials’ real wealth and their official income. One of the key objectives of the project is not just to inform, but to involve people in the fight against corruption by demonstrating how it affects their own well-being.

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Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) | Serbia

Investigating corruption is one of the most dangerous jobs in journalism: three investigative reporters have been murdered in the European Union in the past year alone. In Serbia, journalists face death threats and smear campaigns portray investigative journalists as foreign-backed propagandists. Against this backdrop, Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS) stands out as one of the last independent outlets left amid an increasingly partisan media. Using freedom of information requests, the CINS has created databases based on thousands of pages of documents to underpin its hard-hitting investigations. These include stories on loans provided to pro-government tabloids and TV channels. CINS also provides hands-on investigative journalism training for journalists and editors.

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Mehman Huseynov | Azerbaijan

Mehman Huseynov is a journalist and human rights defender who documents corruption and human rights violations in Azerbaijan, consistently ranked among the world’s worst countries for press freedom. Sentenced to two years in prison in March 2017 after describing abuses he had suffered at a police station, Huseynov has put his life in danger to document sensitive issues. His work circulated widely on the internet, informing citizens about the real estate and business empires of the country’s government officials, and scrutinising the decisions of president Ilham Aliyev. Before his release from prison in March 2019, Huseynov remained defiant, saying: “I am not here only for myself; I am here so that your children are not in my place tomorrow. If you uphold the judgement against me, you have no guarantees that you and your children will not be in my place tomorrow.”

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Mimi Mefo | Cameroon

Mimi Mefo is one of less than a handful of journalists working without fear or favour in Cameroon’s climate of repression and self-censorship. An award-winning broadcast journalist at private media house Equinoxe TV and Radio, Mefo was arrested in November 2018 after she published reports that the military was behind the death of an American missionary in the country. Mefo reports on the escalating violence in the country’s western regions, a conflict that has become known as the “Anglophone Crisis” and is a leading voice in exposing the harassment of other Cameroonian journalists, calling publicly for the release of those jailed.

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Ukrainian investigative journalism on the eve of the presidential election

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Bihus and members of his reporting team noticed several
unidentified people monitoring their activity from outside their Kiev office starting on February 20. Bihus wrote that the monitoring began after Bihus.Info sent requests for comment to law enforcement bodies in relation to an investigative article alleging corruption within Ukraine’s defense industry.

As Ukrainians head into the first round of a tense presidential election on 31 March, Ukraine’s incumbent president and candidate Petro Poroshenko is at the centre of a corruption scandal involving the military and the country’s press are feeling the heat.

The allegations swirling around the president were uncovered by the 2019 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award-nominated Bihus.info, a group of independent investigative journalists, who undertook a multi-year investigation. The Bihus.info revelations were central to the president’s decision to fire Oleh Hladkovskyy, a top national-security official, who was implicated in corrupt deals involving the armed forces.

Denys Bihus, editor-in-chief of Bihus.info, posted on his Facebook page that unknown persons had been surveilling members of his team ahead of the publication of the investigation. Bihus believes the surveillance was organised by Ukrainian law enforcement and was related to the outlet’s investigations into corruption involving the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the State Fiscal Service.

In February, journalists from the TV programme Schemes: Corruption in Details, another leading investigative journalistic project jointly run by public broadcaster UA:Pershyi and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, reported being followed and surveilled. Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov has been accused of hiring personnel to spy on journalist Mykhailo Tkach and the camera crew of Schemes. The journalists claimed these activities have been aimed at obstructing their work.

Akhmetov’s security firm has accused Schemes journalists of breaching the oligarch’s privacy and collecting information illegally. The company said that over the past few months unknown persons had secretly filmed the office of SCM, a company owned by Akhmetov, more than 200 times, as well as the private homes of a shareholder. The company claims that those persons had not identified themselves as media workers.

However, Tkach said that Akhmetov’s security firm knew that he and his crew were journalists as they had shown their press cards. Police initially questioned Tkach in late February after he filed a complaint about the firm’s obstruction of journalistic activity. At first, the investigators intended to interrogate him as a witness, but Tkach insisted that he should be defined as an aggrieved party. According to Ukrainian laws, an aggrieved party has more rights in a proceeding: to see material about the case, to file complaints and statements.

In another alarming trend, Ukrainian prosecutors demanded access to the electronic correspondence of the investigative journalist Ivan Verstyuk who collaborated with the Novoye Vremya weekly magazine. On 4 February a court in Kiev allowed law enforcement to gain access to the journalist’s emails.

In 2016 Novoye Vremya published an article by Verstyuk about Olexander Korniyets, a deputy prosecutor of the Kiev region, who paid for his daughter Anastasia’s expensive study in London. According to the UK National Crime Agency report, Korniyets spent about £120,000, while the official annual income of the prosecutor and his wife did not exceed £8,000 per year.

This report, which was the basis of Verstyuk’s article, had been sent exclusively to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, but was then leaked. Korniyets was fired in 2015, but Ukrainian prosecutors still haven’t finished investigating his case. They claim that Verstyuk’s story and his source breached the confidentiality of this investigation, despite the leaked report being readily available online.

Verstyuk is preparing a lawsuit for the European Court of Human Rights to protect himself from searches by the prosecutor general’s office.

The prosecutors’ efforts to obtain access to Verstyuk’s emails have drawn international condemnation. Harlem Desir, the representative on the freedom of the media at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, urged Ukrainian authorities to respect journalists’ right not to disclose their sources. The Committee to Protect Journalists also condemned the authorities’ efforts to get access to Verstyuk’s emails. Reporters Without Borders said that “it is becoming a habit to trample on the protection of journalistic sources in Ukraine. Head of the National Union of Journalists Serhiy Tomilenko commented that “It’s a shame! It’s an encroachment of media freedom”.

On 6 March journalist Kateryna Kaplyuk and a cameraman Borys Trotsenko from Schemes were assaulted by two deputies of the Chabany village head in the village of Chabany (Kiev region). The pair were filming on the premises of Chabany village council. The assailants were two deputies of the Chabany village head. The journalists called for an ambulance and, after a medical check-up at a hospital, Trotsenko was diagnosed with having a concussion. His camera was broken.  

Nataliya Sedletska, editor-in-chief of Schemes, said the journalists had gone to Chabany village council to get information for an investigation on public lands illegal detachment into private possession. A complaint was filed to the police.

On 28 March Schemes reported that unidentified individuals had been trying to access the programme’s accounts in Telegram, WhatsApp and social media sites. On 7 February at 4:07 am, unknown Kyiv residents received access to Telegram account of Maxim Savchuk. In a few minutes at 4:15am, an attempt was made to access the Telegram account of journalist Valeriya Yegoshyna, who suggested that an attempt to break into her account could be connected to her investigation of social media bots acting in the interests of politicians Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Mykola Martynenko, from the ruling People’s Front party. In early March, unidentified persons tried to break the Facebook account of Schemes journalist Katerina Kapluk and accessed the WhatsApp account of editor Daria Martynenko.

Sedletska said the attempts to access the accounts are directly related to the professional activities of journalists.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”10″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1553851892349-06473364-7471-4″ taxonomies=”742, 8996″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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