MINSK, 9 November (BelTA) - The Belarusian Union of Journalists strongly protests against the actions of the Polish authorities to obstruct the work of Belarusian and foreign journalists in covering the migration crisis, reads a statement of the BSJ posted on its Telegram channel, BelTA has learned.
“The Polish political regime and law enforcement agencies violate the basic democratic standards of freedom of speech and media, ignore Poland's fundamental obligations within the framework of the UN, OSCE and the Council of Europe in terms of humanitarian dimension and rights of journalists. Their actions have all the hallmarks of the totalitarian suppression of the right of their own citizens to objective information about the migrants and refugees trapped on the border,” the statement reads.
The Belarusian Union of Journalists demands Poland immediately stop using flash-bang devices against journalists and jamming communications and remove all restrictions on access to refugees on the Polish side of the border for journalists and human rights activists.
“Such actions once again confirm the repressive and anti-democratic nature of the Polish regime and increase the reasonable suspicions of human rights activists and mass media that the official Warsaw commits crimes against humanity on the border, which it tries to hide from its own people and the international community,” the document says.
