The purpose of the meeting was to express Poland’s strong objections to the ongoing persecution of journalists in Belarus. The most recent examples of such unacceptable conduct were the sentencing on 3 August 2022 of Iryna Slaunikava, a journalist of the Polish Television, to five years in prison and the sentencing on 13 July 2022 of Katsyaryna Andreyeva, a journalist of Belsat TV, to eight years in prison.

Measures taken by the Minsk government deal yet another blow to the representatives of  civil society in Belarus. Currently, more than 1250 people in Belarus have the status of a political prisoner and 29 journalists have been detained, including Andrzej Poczobut, who has been under arrest since March 2021.

Sentencing journalists to many years of incarceration is a violation of human rights and international standards. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland insists that the Belarusian authorities cease to persecute journalists and members of the Polish minority in Belarus, as well as other representatives of civil society, immediately release all political prisoners and clear them of politically-motivated charges still pressed, among others, against the leader of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andżelika Borys.

 

Łukasz Jasina

MFA Press Spokesperson