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On Sunday, May 22, Yulia Kanapliova, a journalist for the independent newspaper “Vitsebski Courier” was detained on the way to Orsha. In total the time of the detention and disputes with the police exceeded three hours. It is worth mentioning that Yulia is 8 months pregnant.

Two publishing houses will be set up in Belarus based on the republican newspapers. It was announced by the Belarusian Minister of Information Aleh Praliaskouski.

Today the VIII Congress of BAJ took place in Minsk. 75 delegates out of 82 nominated in total plus 17 guest-members were present. According to the Statute, only delegates have the right to vote, but any member can attend the meeting. The summing-up event takes place every three years with the aim to report on the results of the previous period and to re-elect its’ Chairperson, his or her deputies, the Administration board, the Council, the Control-revisionary commission and the Commission on ethics.

Names of the winners of the contest will be announced on May 26.

The questioning will deal with silent protests.

Founded and published by Belarusian journalist Iryna Vidanava, 34 Multimedia Magazine is a revived multimedia version of Studentskaya Dumka (Students' Thought), a banned, Belarusian-language youth magazine. When the government in 2005 revoked the magazine's registration – a bureaucratic requirement for any Belarusian organisation – the publication's editors skirted legal restrictions by going digital. The publication now takes advantage of modern technology to create an entirely new generation of samizdat, not just in a multimedia CD format, but also through the publication's website and on Facebook. 

19-year old Dzmitry Ryzhychenka filed a lawsuit after a program was shown on TV channel “Vector TV” in which he was called “extremist” and member of pro-fascist organization. The youngster denies this information and considers such claims as insult to his honor and dignity. However, the court took the side of the TV channel.

The regional state-run newspaper “Vitsebski Rabochy” dated May 15 published an article “Factory of “sensations” or how much is patriotism nowadays?” The author Alena Behunova claims that non-state mass media publish materials “whose authors, for the sake of the doubtful, or to put it simple, dirty popularity, dare to violate norms of human morale, defined by nature itself”.

"I think that within the long time of the dictatorship approximately 80% of independent journalists have been hired by the KGB," said Dzmitry Bandarenka in his interview to "Narodnaya Volia" on May 15. After that the journalistic community exploded. BAJ asked Dzmitry Bandarenka to coment on the figure 80%

On May 14 Minsk city court dismissed the appeal of Aliaksandr Pratsko, a Homel city activist of the civil movement “For freedom!”