In Other Media-eg New Statesman, AJE, FP, Georgia, NYT,  Azerbaijan, CSM Click here to contact us     .

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Video
BBC - Guardian UK - Honduras - CJR - PFT

UN GATE, May 26 – 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.

Now on May 26, this: "We, the current European Union members of the Security Council, Estonia, France and Ireland, and the previous EU Council Members, Belgium and Germany, joined today by the Security Council members, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States, strongly condemn the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus, on 23 May 2021 endangering aviation safety, and the detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega.     The airplane, owned by a European Union company, carrying more than 100 passengers from one EU Member State’s capital to another, was forced to land based on false grounds by a Belarusian military aircraft.     These acts are a blatant attack on international civilian aviation safety and on European security and show flagrant disregard for international law.     We call on the International Civil Aviation Organization to urgently investigate this unprecedented and unacceptable incident and for full accountability for those responsible."

But can any UN agency be trusted, in the China-dominated UN systme of Guterres?

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, for the 917th day. Corrupt.

On October 3, The Belarusian Foreign Ministry canceled the accreditations of all foreign journalists in the country, saying the move was made as part of a reforming of the country's regulations and procedures for the media.  In a statement on October 2, the ministry said the accreditations are immediately considered invalid, and that journalists working for foreign media organizations in the country must reapply with a revamped accreditation commission that will start operating on October 5.

Meanwhile the US imposed sanctions on Minister of the Interior Kareau & Deputy Barsukou; Commander Nazaranka  and Deputy AtabekauIpatau, Ipatau and Dmukhayla; Kubrakou and Balaba.

 After a typical UN Secretariat waffling on Belarus, on September 11 SG Antonio Guterres who bans Press from the UN for 822 days issued this canned statement: "The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the situation in Belarus, particularly the continued use of force against peaceful protestors and the detention of people exercising their legitimate democratic rights.  He is also concerned about reports of intimidation tactics against civil society, media" - media? When Guterres' own guards rough up and ban the Press, here?

  On September 12, 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 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.

***

Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron.

Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com
SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle
500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA

Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017

Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540

Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.

 Copyright 2006-2020 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com for