"""
> Fatal Python error: _PySys_BeginInit: can't initialize sys module

I have no idea why you get this error. You should try to run this function in a debugger like gdb and run the code step by step to see what happens.
"""

I pushed 3 changes to get working exceptions and working sys.stderr earlier during Python initialization. It should help to display the current exceptions when Py_FatalError() is called during early stage of the Python initialization.