Free Media Awards 2025
Belarusian Investigative Center (Belarus)

When it comes to investigative journalism, the BIC has ushered in a new chapter in Belarusian journalism. Since 2020, in addition to exposing state corruption and fake news, the Belarusian Investigative Center has focused on how various actors in the region have circumvented restrictive sanctions imposed on cooperation with Belarus and Russia due to Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and Belarus’ involvement there. The Center has published news that has often triggered rapid corrective responses from the parties involved. The Belarusian Investigative Center was established in 2018. The Belarusian authorities cracked down on the Center in 2021 as part of assaults on independent journalism, forcing the Center into exile. Belarusian Investigative Journalism is a web portal with a popular YouTube channel. BIC produces several video programmes that provide news coverage, economic analyses and the discrediting of fake news in Russia and Belarus. These sources are frequently quoted and republished. The Center publishes in three languages: Belarusian, Russian and English. The Belarusian Investigative Center is a member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. BIC’s investigations uncover over $1 billion worth of schemes of corruption and sanctions evasion per year. Other subjects of investigations include war crimes, organized crime and covert influence of Belarus and Russia in the EU.