US AMBASSADOR VISITS JOURNALIST VIKTAR IVASHKEVICH

US AMBASSADOR VISITS JOURNALIST VIKTAR IVASHKEVICH

BelaPAN

The Rabochy editor-in-chief Viktar Ivashkevich has been serving forced labor sentence for attempted libeling and public insult of the President since September 2002 in Baranavichy (Brest region).
The Ambassador met Ivashkevich on 4 April in the office of The Intex-Press independent newspaper, where Ivashkevich works as a courier. Their conversation lasted for several hours. According to V. Ivashkevich, they talked about democracy and human rights protection in Belarus. Ambassador Kozak informed the convicted journalist, the United States had prepared a resolution for the Geneva meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission. Apart from other issues, the resolution broaches the questions of the missing politicians, repression against parties and party activists, pressure on the mass media and some of the religious denominations.