Georgian publishers release message of support for author Svetlana Alexievich amid questioning in Minsk

Georgian book publishers have released a message of support for Nobel Prize laureate Svetlana Alexievich, as the internationally renowned author was summoned for questioning in Minsk on Wednesday.

Alexievich was questioned by the Belarusian Investigative Committee in relation to its case on the political opposition amid protests in the country sparked by the presidential elections earlier this month.

As the author, a member of the protesters' Coordination Council, faced the Committee in the capital, Georgian publishers Intelekti and Artanuji, who have released Alexievich's work in Georgia, issued their joint statement.

Alexievich turned out to be unacceptable for [Belarusian president Alexander] Lukashenko's regime on her return to her [homeland] [after emigration]."

After [she] openly supported Belarusian people's peaceful protest against authoritarianism, the merciless machine of repressions turned on her too," the statement reads.

In the message the publishing houses alleged the author had become a "target of the system whose victims she defended and supported for decades", also calling her an author who had "introduced the Soviet reality and post-Soviet legacy" to the world.

The message of support also called the Nobel Prize winner a representative of the freedom of speech and expression in Belarus and expressed solidarity with her in the name of the publishers.