France is appalled by the announcement of the sentencing of three Belarusian journalists from independent media NEXTA, Roman Protassevitch to 8 years in prison, as well as Stepan Poutilo and Yan Roudzik to 20 and 19 years in prison respectively. Alyaksandr Lukachenko’s regime.
In May 2021, the Belarusian authorities hijacked a Ryanair flight to arrest journalist Roman Protassevitch, in violation of the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and the Montreal Convention on Repression d’actes illicites dirigés contre la sécurité de l’aviation civile.
Alexandre Loukachenko’s regime has once again demonstrated its absolute disregard for freedom of expression in particular and human rights in general. Une fois de plus, the Belarusian justice was instrumentalized by the power in the goal of repressing any voice of criticism in its regard.
As a member of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Belarus is bound to respect its human rights commitments. La France appelle donc les autorités biélorusses à release et réhabiliter immediately et unconditionallementement tous les prisonniers politiques du pays. Faced with continued and brutal repression, France reiterates its support for defenders of press freedom and human rights in Belarus.