France condemns jailing of two Belarus journalists over protests

France has condemned the jailing of two Belarus journalists and police searches of the homes and offices of staff at an NGO and the Belarus journalists' association, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. "These developments illustate the increasing harassment of civil society and independent journalists in Belarus," the ministry said.

A Belarusian court last week jailed a pair of journalists for two years on charges of orchestrating protests against President Alexander Lukashenko.