ATR

Belarusian authorities detained Elena Tolkacheva, a business reporter with independent news website Tut.by, along with several other Tut.by employees and journalists in May 2021 as part of a crackdown that included raids on the outlet’s offices.  Tolkacheva covered the 2020 protests against the contested reelection of President Aleksandr Lukashenko for Tut.by, according to the Belarusian…

Belarusian journalist Valeryia Kastsiuhova, founder and editor of independent analysis and opinion website Nashe Mneniye (Our Opinion), has been serving a 10-year prison sentence since being convicted in March 2023 on charges of conspiring to seize state power, calling for actions aimed at harming national security, and incitement to hatred. Officers of the Belarusian State Security Committee…

Igor Kuznetsov, a correspondent for the independent news outlet RusNews based in the western Siberian city of Tomsk, has been detained since September 2021 on charges of inciting mass disturbances in group chats on the messaging app Telegram. In September 2023, authorities added an additional charge of participating in an extremist group. As of December…

Aimable Karasira Uzaramba, a YouTube political commentator, was arrested in 2021 on charges of genocide denial, genocide justification, and inciting divisions, each of which carries a penalty of seven years in jail. In 2023, prosecutors added charges of illicit enrichment and embezzlement, and money laundering. Karasira has alleged that he was mistreated, beaten, and denied…

Benin journalist Hervé Alladé and his colleague Patrice Gbaguidi have been jailed in Cotonou, Benin’s largest city, since November 2021 on accusations that they violated the country’s digital code because their report about a public official’s alleged wrongdoing was distributed on social media.  Alladé is the owner of Le Soleil Bénin Infos newspaper, which covers…

Cuban journalist Mary Karla Ares Gonzalez is being held in pretrial detention under house arrest for alleged public disorder and resistance. Police arrested Ares on April 30, 2021, while she was covering a protest, and held her in prison until May 29, when she was released to house arrest. Ares is a Havana-based reporter for…

Cuban journalist Camila Acosta is being held in pretrial detention under house arrest for alleged incitement to commit a crime. Police arrested Acosta on July 12, 2021, after she covered widespread antigovernment protests in Havana, and held her in prison for four days before releasing her to house arrest. Acosta is a correspondent for the…

Jordanian police and intelligence officers arrested Syrian freelance journalist Ibrahim Ahmed Awad at his home in Amman in November 2021 and transferred him to the Azraq refugee camp, which he is banned from leaving.Awad is a freelance journalist who contributes to outlets including the news websites Qasioun and The Levant News, and has presented commentary…

Ukrainian journalist Vladislav Yesypenko is serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted by a court in Simferopol, the capital of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea, of possessing and transporting explosives in February 2022. Russia Federal Security Service (FSB) officers detained him in March 2021. He was initially sentenced to six years in prison in February 2022,…