EBU suspends Belarus member BTRC
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 31 May 2021
As the political crisis engulfing Belarus continues since the arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich after local authorities forced the unscheduled landing of the Ryanair flight he was on, the executive board of the European Broadcast Union (EBU) has agreed to suspend Belarus member BTRC from its organisation.
BTRC 31 MAy 2021
The EBU says that it has been closely monitoring the suppression of media freedom in Belarus and has consistently called on BTRC to uphold its core values of freedom of expression, independence and accountability. Moreover, since the disputed elections last summer, the EBU has been campaigning for the protection of independent journalism and freedom of expression in the country, publicly supporting journalists at BTRC who have been protesting against government interference. It has also been monitoring BTRC’s coverage and has felt the need to articulate concerns regarding its management.

However, the EBU noted that in recent weeks, it had been particularly alarmed by the broadcast of interviews apparently obtained under duress and had also monitored other BTRC broadcasts on this issue which it said have raised other “serious and quite exceptional” concerns.

Given such developments, the EBU executive board said it had no alternative other than to propose the suspension of BTRC’s membership.
The broadcaster has two weeks to respond before suspension comes into effect.