Sergey Yakupov is a human rights defender and Media Academy Director at Press Club Belarus. Belarus Press Club is a platform for the professional development of Belarusian independent media and journalists that conducts educational trainings, provides space for professional discussion and development of new media projects and monitors compliance of Belarusian media materials with journalistic standards. Since protests began after the 2020 Presidential election, the Belarus Press Club has been closely following repression against independent media and journalists in Belarus.
HRDs are systematically subjected to intimidation and harassment, including judicial harassment, restrictions on freedom of expression, association and assembly, and movement, as well as arbitrary detention and conviction, ill-treatment and defamation, searches of offices and personal belongings, and confiscations of equipment.
