An independent journalist arrested on treason charges in Belarus

TALLINN, Estonia — An independent journalist in Belarus has been arrested on charges of high treason, the latest move in a relentless crackdown on media and free speech by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko's government, a media rights watchdog said Thursday.

Danil Palianski, a reporter from the city of Brest, was arrested in Septmber and has remained behind bars, according to the Belarusian Association of Journalists. The 53-year-old journalist faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Palianski, who worked for several independent news outlets, is one of 34 journalists in custody in Belarus, either serving sentences or awaiting trial.

''Belarus has become the most dangerous country in Europe for journalists, a place where journalists disappear behind bars and we don't know what's happening to them,'' said Andrei Bastunets, the head of the journalists' association.

He noted that authorities have intensified their crackdown as next year's presidential election approaches. Lukashenko, who has been in power for more than 30 years, is set to seek a seventh term.

''Most independent media have fled abroad, and the authorities are doing everything they can to make sure that there is not a single independent journalist left in the country,'' Bastunets said.

After Lukashenko's re-election in 2020, which was seen at home and abroad as rigged, he responded to a wave of mass protests with brutal repressions that saw more than 65,000 people detained.

About 1,300 are currently held behind bars as political prisoners, according to the Viasna human rights group, including the group's founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.