Press Freedom Watchdog, Tikhanovskaya Urge EU To Give Financial Support To Belarus' Media

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th September, 2021) The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) non-profit organization and Belarusian opposition figure Svetlana Tikhanovskaya have issued a joint statement urging the European Union to provide financial support to media outlets in Belarus.

Tikhanovskaya visited the RSF headquarters in Paris earlier on Friday.

"We call on the European Union to make all of its financial and material capacity available to Belarusian media and journalists on a lasting basis," RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.

The Belarusian opposition leader echoed the RSF secretary, saying that the country's journalists are "in dire need of help by means of a special European Union fund, in particular for their relocation and their legal defense.

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Belarusian authorities have intensified their crackdown on independent media across the country particularly after the presidential election in August 2020, which was handily won by incumbent president Alexander Lukashenko. The opposition has not recognized the results, claiming that Tikhanovskaya, who since then fled to Lithuania, was the real winner. The dispute led to mass protests across the country. As a result, Western countries imposed a number of sanctions on Minsk for alleged electoral fraud and human rights violations.