Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made in the last six months to (a) the Belarus Ambassador in London and (b) his counterpart in Belarus on recent amendments to media law, the criminal prosecution of journalists and editors and the persecution of journalists who co-operate with foreign media without accreditation.

​The UK is concerned about restrictions on media freedom in Belarus, including the amendments introduced to Belarus' media laws on 1 December. Our Ambassador in Minsk raised these issues with the Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister in a meeting on 19 February 2019. Our Embassy subsequently attended the trial of the editor of the independent online media outlet, tut.by. The UK also joined EU partners in raising the issue of media freedom during the EU-Belarus Coordination meeting on 12-13 December 2018. The UK continues to support a number of projects to promote and develop independent media in Belarus.