WASHINGTON—Responding to the August 7 raids on editorial offices of Belarusian media and detentions of over a dozen journalists, Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), released the following statement:
“I urge the immediate release of all journalists detained in Belarus and that the government cease its raids on civil society groups. Many patriotic Belarusians continue to make heroic sacrifices for their country, working hard to secure human rights and representative government, and resisting the worst abuses of the Lukashenka dictatorship—our government should make advocacy for them the top priority in our relations with Belarus.”
Co-Chairman Smith is the author of three laws promoting human rights in Belarus: the Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2011, the Belarus Democracy Act of 2006, and the Belarus Democracy Act of 2004. In 2017 he raised human rights issues in Minsk, capital of Belarus, in a meeting with Alexander Lukashenka, President of Belarus.
