Protest rally in support of detained Belarusian journalist held in Tbilisi
Roman Protasevich is 26-year-old journalist, co-founder and a former editor of the Poland-based online news service Nexta channel on the social media platform Telegram, which broadcast footage of protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year. Photo: Dato Koridze/RFE/RL.
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A protest rally in support of detained Belarusian activist, journalist and blogger Roman Protasevich was held at the Embassy of Belarus in Tbilisi yesterday.
Dozens of participants gathered near the Embassy of Belarus with flags and banners that said “Georgia does not recognize dictators. Support the people of Belarus.”
Ambassador of Lithuania to Georgia Andrius Kalindra visited the protest rally in support of Protasevich and expressed his gratitude to civil society which ‘found the strength to go out.’
Ambassador of Lithuania to Georgia Andrius Kalindra visited protest rally in support of Roman Protasevich in Tbilisi and expressed his gratitude to civil society which find strength to go out around the world ❤
— Egor Kuroptev (@ESK001) May 24, 2021
Watch video ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/AFkbDlBZLX
Belarusian journalist Roman Protasevich was detained on May 23 by the Belarusian government at a Minsk airport.
Belarus forced the plane, which was flying from Athens to Lithuania, to land in Minsk claiming there was a bomb threat to the aircraft.
Protasevich is 26-year-old journalist, co-founder and a former editor of the Poland-based online news service Nexta channel on the social media platform Telegram, which broadcasted footage of protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko last year.
When internet access was often blocked and independent media were restricted during the protests, Nexta played a key role in coordinating protesters.
In November 2020 Belarus launched an investigation against Protasevich and Nexta’s co-founder Stsiapan Putsila for ‘allegedly disrupting social order and inciting social hatred’.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has responded to the recent detention of 26-year-old Belarussian activist, journalist and blogger Roman Protasevich by the Belarusian government at a Minsk airport late yesterday, stating that the ‘forcible detention is completely unacceptable.’ Belarus forced the plane, which was flying from Athens to Lithuania, to land in Minsk claiming there was a bomb threat to the aircraft.
A rally held in Tbilisi on Tuesday by a local non-governmental organisation and involving Belarusian citizens residing in Georgia asked the government to provide diplomatic support for protesters in Belarus.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia has clarified the purpose of a flight from Georgia to Belarus on August 16, stating that the Ambassador of Georgia to Belarus, Valeri Kvaratskhelia, had to take the flight 'due to the recent events in Belarus'.
Georgia and Belarus have signed an intergovernmental economic commission protocol, which will serve as a roadmap for the realisation of socio-economic projects between the two countries.
The Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has responded to tweets by the opposition and several former foreign diplomats critical of the anti-terrorism and anti-corruption agreement signed with Belarus back in 2016, stating that the ‘ordinary agreement’ poses no threats to anyone, including the Belarus citizens who are in Georgia.