33 imprisoned journalists and more than 1,000 other political prisoners are evidence of a deeply-rooted fear of fact-based discourse in Minsk, US Special Envoy for Belarus Fischer sais

February 9, BPN. “On this Day of Solidarity with Belarus, 33 journalists are in jail, along with more than 1000 other political prisoners. These numbers are evidence of a deeply-rooted fear of fact-based discourse in Minsk,” US Special Envoy for Belarus Julie Fischer said.

Yesterday she participated in a discussion on the situation in Belarus with representatives of Viasna Human Rights Centre, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, and the BYSOL Fund in Vilnius, at the Barys Zvozskaŭ Human Rights House. The head of the EU Delegation to Belarus Dirk Schuebel, Polish Ambassador to Belarus Artur Michalski, and French Special Envoy for Belarus Nicolas de Lacoste also attended the meeting. All of them were forced to leave Belarus and are now working abroad. Julie Fischer had received the agrément to serve as US Ambassador in Minsk, but she was denied a Belarusian visa and later had her agrément withdrawn.