US State Department: All Belarusian Journalists Must Be Released Immediately

It was demanded from the authorities to do so without any conditions.

The U.S. State Department has urged the Belarusian authorities to "respect media freedom" and to release the journalists detained in the country "immediately and without any conditions".

"The U.S. calls on Belarusian authorities to respect media freedom and stop the intimidation and harassment of journalists--they should immediately and unconditionally release those detained solely for fulfilling their professional duty," - Deputy Head of the Press Service of the United States State Department Cale Brown wrote on Twitter, afn.by reports.

On November 24 the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) reported that since the presidential election media representatives have been detained 363 times. According to the association's calculations, 77 journalists have been subjected to administrative arrest. 12 journalists are kept in temporary detention centers on administrative or criminal cases.