Canada Urges Belarus To Promptly Free Imprisoned Opposition Journalists - Top Diplomat

Canada calls on Belarusian authorities to release journalists who are currently imprisoned on political grounds as soon as possible, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) Canada calls on Belarusian authorities to release journalists who are currently imprisoned on political grounds as soon as possible, Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday Amnesty International declared Belarusian journalist Katerina Borisevich a prisoner of conscience, as she has been arrested and put under criminal proceedings for publishing information on the controversial death of protester Roman Bondarenko after police custody. Belarusian human rights activists also recognized Borisevich as a political prisoner, along with her counterparts from other media outlets Daria Chultsova and Katerina Andreeva.�

"The imprisonment of journalists in #Belarus by the Lukashenko regime violates the most basic principles of #HumanRights. Canada calls for their immediate release and will continue to #DefendMediaFreedom," Champagne tweeted.

Earlier this month, the Belarusian Association of Journalists won the 2020 Canada-UK Media Freedom Award for its role in covering the rallies held across the country following the announcement that incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko secured a sixth term in the August 9 presidential election.

While the incumbent president has repeatedly accused Western states of interference in Belarus' internal affairs, the opposition has rejected the official election results, which showed that Lukashenko collected over 80 percent of the vote, and instead claimed that his key contender, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won the election. Opposition leaders have also accused law enforcement officers of using violent methods during the demonstrations.