U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh Friday called on Belarus to release six trade union leaders imprisoned there on charges that their supporters say are political.
JOURNALISTS who covered protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko have been convicted of violating public order and sentenced to two years in prison.
Katsiaryna Bakhvalava and Daria Chultsova, of Polish-funded Belsat TV, were arrested in November when police raided a Minsk apartment from where they were doing a livestream report.
Addressing the court before the verdict on Thursday, Ms Bakhvalava vowed to continue working for “building a Belarus that won’t have political repressions.
“I’m not pleading. I’m demanding acquittal for me and my colleagues,” she said, referring to other jailed journalists.
In a statement, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said: “We consider the sentence politically motivated. Its goal is to scare all journalists to prevent them from fulfilling their professional duty to cover socially important events in the country.