We issued the following statement after learning that Belarusian authorities have stripped Pavel Sheremet, a prominent journalist living in Russia, of his Belarusian citizenship. In an interview today for the independent news Web site Belarussky Partizan, Sheremet said he received a notice about this from the Belarusian embassy in Moscow. Sheremet said the notice did not specify the reason.
“CPJ calls on Belarusian authorities to immediately return Pavel Sheremet‘s citizenship and passport, and allow him to travel freely to his native country,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. “Sheremet has long been critical of the regime of Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko and has been jailed, attacked, and harassed for his work in the past. This latest official move appears as yet another act of official retaliation. It must be stopped at once.”