The Polish foreign ministry said in a statement that the Belarusian official, Aliaksandr Chasnouski, was "presented with Poland's protest against the Belarusian regime's continued repression against journalists and civil society activists."
The statement added that the most recent examples of such "unacceptable practices" have been long-term prison sentences handed to journalists Iryna Slaunikava and Katsyaryna Andreeva.
The foreign ministry in Warsaw demanded that Minsk "stop its persecution of journalists, members of the Polish minority in Belarus and other representatives of civil society, and immediately release all political prisoners and clear them of politically motivated charges."
It said that those imprisoned by the Lukashenko regime included Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut and the leader of the Polish community in Belarus, Andżelika Borys, who faced politically motivated charges.
Journalist sentenced to five years in prison
Poland’s move came after a court in Belarus on Wednesday sentenced Iryna Slaunikava, a journalist with the Polish state broadcaster TVP, to five years in prison for “creating an extremist group.”
Slaunikava, a Belarusian journalist who covered the mass protests after Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed reelection in 2020, among other events, has been kept behind bars since her arrest on October 30, 2021.
The arrest and subsequent trial - held behind closed doors - is widely believed to have been politically motivated, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
On Wednesday, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the sentencing of Slaunikava to five years in prison as “an absolute scandal” and “a violation of all civilisational norms, human rights and journalistic standards.”
“This unacceptable sentence will be met with an immediate, firm response from Poland on the international stage,” Morawiecki said on Facebook.
"I have instructed the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take decisive and firm steps," he added.
According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, 29 journalists and media workers are currently held in Belarusian prisons.
Viasna, a human rights group, has estimated that the regime of Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is jailing at least 1,253 political prisoners, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, gov.pl, PAP, wprost.pl