THE France expresses its “disgust” at the conviction of three Belarusians journalistsnoted today the representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as her regret for the “absolute disregard” by Alexander Lukashenko’s regime “in particular of freedom of expression and of human rights in general”.
A Belarusian court sentenced yesterday, Wednesdayin prison for eight years Roman Protasevich, an opposition journalist who was arrested two years ago in Belarus after the Belarusian authorities they obliged aircraft of Ryanair, in which he was on board, to make an emergency landing in Minsk, causing an international outcry and the imposition of Western sanctions on Belarus. The other two journalists, Stepan Putillo and Jan Ruzic, were sentenced in absentia to prison sentences of 20 and 19 years respectively.
“Once again, Belarusian justice was used by the authorities with the aim of suppressing any critical voice against it,” underlined Anne-Claire Legendre, reports APE-MPE.
The representative of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded that as member of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)Belarus “must respect the commitments it has made regarding respect for human rights”.
“France therefore calls on the Belarusian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release and rehabilitate all the country’s political prisoners,” the spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry added.
Source: News Beast
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