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By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video
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UN GATE, May 29 – Right after dissident blogger Pratasevich was grabbed off a Ryan Air flight forced to land in Belarus, many including the US spoke. But for more than a full day, nothing from Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General who rarely takes questions and even had the Press which asked him about the mass killings in Cameroon thrown out of the UN.

On May 28, Guterres' UN Press Briefing Room hosted a press conference, from which Inner City Press was banned, in which the grabbing of Pratasevich was called fake news, in response to questions from state media. Inner City Press has asked incoming UNSC president for June Estonia for access - and will report on all results.

Now on May 29, this: "The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.  Begin text:  The undersigned members of the Media Freedom Coalition condemn in the strongest terms Belarus’ forced diversion and landing of a commercial aircraft and subsequent arrest of journalist Roman Protasevich.  This unprecedented and shocking action constitutes a full frontal attack on media freedom and has serious implications on the right of freedom of expression and opinion more broadly.  This action is all the more troubling when seen in the context of the large-scale campaign to silence independent voices in Belarus, including the May 18 raid on the offices of independent news site tut.by and the subsequent arrest of several staff.  Some 400 journalists and workers in the media in Belarus have faced various forms of repression in the course of the August 9 election and its aftermath.  The Media Freedom Coalition demands the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Protasevich as well as other journalists and media workers who have been detained in Belarus for doing their jobs.  Those responsible must be held accountable for attacks on journalists and media workers."

But will any of them even try to hold Antonio Guterres accountable for having roughed up and ousted, and now banned 1062 days, the Press he doesn't like?

On the morning of May 24, Inner City Press emailed Guterres and his spokespeople Stephane Dujarric, Farhan Haq and Melissa Fleming: "On Belarus what are the comments and actions if any of SG Guterres that dissident blogger Pratasevich has been grabbed off a Ryan Air flight forced to land in Belarus?"

   An hour (and a day) late, blaming "exploding plumbing" for the delay, this: "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned over the apparent forced landing of a passenger aircraft over Belarus on 23 May and the subsequent detention of Mr. Roman Protasevich, a Belarusian journalist on board. The Secretary-General supports calls for a full, transparent and independent investigation into this disturbing incident and urges all relevant actors to cooperate with such an inquiry.     The Secretary-General also remains greatly concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus in the aftermath of last August’s presidential elections. He urges the Belarusian authorities to fully respect all its international human rights obligations, including in relation to the freedoms of expression, assembly and association.     Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the Secretary-General   New York, 24 May 2021."What was the plumbing? Guterres getting approval for this?

Previously, Guterres rolled up in three large SUV vehicles to the publicly-funded mansion he usually lives alone in, just before the COVID-19 pandemic spread in March Video here, & YouTube and Facebook.

 Now Guterres, wasting public funds like any dictator in his publicly funded mansion after his COVID super-spreader vacation trip to Portugal is silent as authorities in Minsk detained five employees of Press Club Belarus as well as Ksenia Lutskina, an independent journalist who recently participated in an event hosted by the club, according to news reports and Nadzeya Belakhvostik, chief editor of the Press Club’s “Media IQ” media literacy project, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview.  Press Club Belarus is a professional trade organization that conducts educational and cultural initiatives relating to journalism, hosts professional development events, and produces media content, according to its website. The club’s “Press Under Pressure” program catalogues press freedom violations in the country.  All six individuals were arrested as part of a tax evasion investigation into Press Club Belarus. Meanwhile Guterres bans Inner City Press from the UN.

  Back on September 12, 2020 still-banned Inner City Press went to check out the UN and Belarus protest across from it on 43rd Street, where it covered the UN after Guterres had it roughed up. Sept 12 Periscope here. Guterres sides with dictators - and his Melissa Fleming had and has not acted on Inner City Press' application a full week previous for access to briefing to cover UNGA Week 2020. We'll have more on this.

 As Inner City Press reported on August 4 when Haq and Melissa Fleming had it removed before it could ask a question on Guterres' lame "policy brief" on COVID-19 and education, Guterres' embargoed video was filmed July 23. This shows guilty knowledge.

  In March at public expense his wife Catarina Vaz Pinto was with him, just as she was in September 2019 in expensive seats at the US Open tennis tournament as Guterres - and she? - censored the Press.

   Catarina Vaz Pinto is no longer only Lisbon's Minister of Culture - she is now, somewhat absurdly, the "Minister of International Relations" of the city. In that role she was in Madrid, at an event making light of the spread of Coronavirus which Guterres is helping spread, while UN Spokesperson Stephan Dujarric and Melissa Fleming refuse all Inner City Press questions.

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