Abstract
Iryna Khalip started her journalistic career during the last years of the Soviet Union. She witnessed the changes that the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the communist empire brought about. She saw the new hopes those changes inspired; and she watched as those hopes collapsed when Alexander Lukashenko came to power in Belarus in 1994. For these, and all the tough pieces of journalism she has done, against the odds, she has just been presented with the International Writer of Courage 2013 PEN/Pinter Prize, along with playwright Sir Tom Stoppard.
In 1997 Khalip was severely beaten by the police together with her father, the well-known Belarusian playwright and scriptwriter Uladzimir Khalip, during a protest against the union between Russia and Belarus in Minsk. The public prosecutor’s office refused to initiate a criminal case against the police officers. It ended up with the journalist being fined for slapping a prosecutor who saw no offence in police brutality.
She worked for leading Belarusian newspapers, including the Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta, a Belarusian business newspaper which was closed in 2006 due to the pressure from the authorities. And for years Khalip has been a special reporter in Belarus for the Russian Novaya Gazeta.
Her reporting and firm stand have been recognised both by the professional community and civil society and in different ways by the authorities of the country. The former have garlanded her with numerous national and international journalistic and human rights prizes and awards after the latter subjected her to criminal cases, interrogations and trials.
A new stage of Khalip’s life started on the cold night of 19 December 2010. She was in the Independence Square of Minsk beside her husband Andrei Sannikov, an oppositional presidential candidate. She was there to protest against voting fraud and demand free and fair elections. And she faced extreme police brutality again. Protesters were dispersed by the police, hundreds of people were detained and later sentenced for participation in peaceful protest. Khalip was detained as well, as a real journalist, in the line of duty. She was live on her phone to Russian radio giving her report about what happened in Minsk, when the police stopped the car she and Sannikov were in, dragged them out and brought to the KGB prison.
In May 2011, she was given a two-year suspended prison sentence for “participation in mass disturbances”. In fact, for two years she lived under house arrest. She was not allowed to leave Minsk, had to be at home by 10pm every day and report to the police weekly. In July 2013 Khalip had her suspended sentence lifted by a Minsk court, but did not really accept her freedom as a sign of mercy from the ruling regime.
Above: Journalist Iryna Khalip
Credit: bymedia.net
“They took three years of my life. For two years I lived under de facto house arrest. They should not expect me to thank them for not sending me to prison,” Khalip told journalists after the court announced she was free. “There can be no such thing as an ‘ex-political prisoner’ until this fascist regime is gone in our country,” the journalist added.
When Khalip was awarded the International Writer of Courage 2013 PEN/Pinter Prize this autumn, along with playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, it was not a surprise. Tom Stoppard is well known for his writing, and for his campaigning for freedom in Belarus. And Iryna Khalip is renowned for a courage that goes far beyond her writing.
Stoppard: Anyone who meets her must be struck by her energy and vivacity, and by her dedication
Stoppard told Index: “I met Irina Khalip in Minsk eight years ago. The political and civic climate was bad then but it is much worse now, especially for a brave independent voice like Irina’s. Anyone who meets her must be struck by her energy and vivacity, and by her dedication. I was proud to share the PEN/Pinter Prize with her a few weeks ago.”
Her work is much acknowledged for its impact, and overcoming obstacles. Zhanna Litvina, chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the leading independent organisation for journalists in the country, said: “Iryna is an extremely talented person beyond any doubt. Moreover, she shows what happens when talent comes together with the determination to take a firm stand. She is a political journalist, who is intolerant of any injustice, sometimes even morbidly intolerant. I really adore her being so firm in her views and beliefs despite all terrible ordeals she has undergone. Iryna definitely sees Belarus as a democratic country where people can live without fear; and her determination and hope inspires the people who surround her.”
And Khalip stays determined, because nothing can change her belief what she is doing is right. She says she is not leaving Belarus, because it is her country, and she wants it to be free and democratic. She wants to see Belarusian people in charge of their future with no fear, but with their rights and freedoms respected.
And she keeps writing with the courage she is known for.