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In Šalčininkai district, journalists hung a photo of 21 colleagues imprisoned in Belarus on a fence separating Lithuania and Belarus.
Christophe Deloire, director of the international organization Reporters Without Borders, who is visiting Lithuania, showed a portrait of R. Protasevičius.
He condemned the actions of the Belarusian regime by accusing journalists of terrorist activities.
“The reality is that these predators are terrorists themselves. They will do anything to imprison journalists and scare the public. (…) This is terrorism.” 15 minutes said the secretary general of the Paris-based organization.
Reporters Without Borders this week appealed to the Attorney General’s Office to investigate Lukashenko’s actions against kidnapping and piracy.
“We believe that Lukashenko himself should be tried, because what he did, what he ordered and what he is now trying to justify is hijacking a plane for terrorist purposes,” Deloire said.
“He is responsible for that,” he added.
The director of Reporters Without Borders called on the international community to increase pressure on Belarus to release the jailed journalists.
“We will not forget you and we will continue fighting for you,” Deloire said.
LRT journalist Indrė Makaraitytė, who participated in the picket, said that the treatment of journalists performing their civic duties by the Belarusian regime is deplorable.
“We can help by publicizing what is happening. This is our obligatory duty ”, affirmed the journalist.
“It just came to our attention then. “Any dictator and any tyrant is afraid of publicity,” he said.
Photo by Lukas Balandi / 15min / Indė Makaraitytė
Belarus Moraz, a Belarusian journalist living in Lithuania, said that the events in Belarus were “terrible”.
“With our presence, we want to express the need to free independent journalists and independent journalists,” he said.
Belarusian officials arrested Protasevičius and his friend Sofia Sapega, who were flying from Athens to Vilnius, on Sunday after the regime seized control of the plane and forced it to land in Minsk.
Luke April / 15 min photo / Campaign to support R. Protasevičius and other Belarusian journalists
In response, the European Union has banned Belarusian airlines from landing at its airports and is considering imposing economic sanctions on the regime and its affiliates.
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