Poland Summons Belarusian Diplomat Over Jail Sentence for Journalist
WARSAW (Reuters) -Poland summoned Belarus’ senior diplomat in Warsaw on Thursday to protest in opposition to the jailing for 5 years of a journalist accused of stirring anti-government bother.
A Belarusian courtroom discovered Iryna Slaunikava, of Polish broadcaster Belsat TV, responsible on Wednesday of establishing an extremist group and organising unrest, the most recent of scores jailed throughout a crackdown since 2020 protests.
“Poland introduced its place to the Belarusian facet and we’re specializing in the combat for these folks, principally on the worldwide stage,” stated Lukasz Jasina, Poland’s International Affairs Ministry spokesperson.
It was not instantly doable to contact the Belarusian embassy for remark. Jasina stated Belarus had made clear it regards Poland’s stance as meddling.
Slaunikava was arrested in October at an airport as she returned from a vacation. Most of her trial was held behind closed doorways, however she might be seen in a cage when the decision was handed down.
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Minsk has branded Belsat as extremist. Final month, a Belarusian courtroom sentenced one other Belsat journalist to eight years in jail for treason.
The Belarusian Vesna-96 rights group estimates Belarus is holding about 1,300 political prisoners, many arrested throughout protests in opposition to President Alexander Lukashenko who has been in energy since 1994.
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska, Pawel Florkiewicz; Modifying by Alison Williams and Andrew Cawthorne)
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