Novaya Gazeta journalists to stage picket near Belarus embassy in Moscow

Journalists from the Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta on Monday December 27 will stage an authorized picket in front of the Belarusian embassy in order to express solidarity with their arrested Belarusian colleagues.  Iryna Khalip, Novaya Gazeta correspondent in Minsk and the wife of presidential candidate Andrei Sannikau, are currently being held in a KGB pre-trial prison. They are suspected of masterminding the public unrest in Independence Square on December 19 in Minsk. If convicted, Iryna Khalip is facing up to 15 years in prison.