BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/03/2008

Deputy Prosecutor Confirms Ordering Raids On Belarusian Journalists

Minsk deputy prosecutor Alyaksey Stuk told RFE/RL's Belarus Service on March 27 that he ordered the searches of the homes and offices of independent journalists all over Belarus (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 27, 2008). Stuk said that investigators believed that the journalists might be cooperating with the authors of animated cartoons defaming President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and contributing to their online dissemination. He said that the searches were part of proceedings in a criminal case opened in August 2005 against Andrey Abozau, Pavel Marozau, and Aleh Minich, who posted on the website of their organization, Third Path, cartoons lampooning Lukashenka. Abozau, Marozau, and Minich fled Belarus in early 2007 to avoid arrest. The officers who conducted searches seized computers, office equipment, and various data-storage devices. In Vitsebsk, during a raid on the apartment of a correspondent of the Polish-based Radio Racja, they arrested human rights activist Pavel Levinau. The Foreign Ministry the same day defended the raids on the offices of independent broadcasters funded by the European Union and Poland, and the apartments of journalists working with them. Ministry spokeswoman Maryya Vanshyna said in a statement that the media outlets were not accredited with the ministry, Belapan reported. "I would like to recall right away that activities carried out by foreign journalists on the territory of the Republic of Belarus are governed by the law on the media. It stipulates that reporters of foreign media outlets require accreditation to work in Belarus, like in many other countries," Vanshyna said. "As for the foreign media structures mentioned at present by the media, I can officially state that their representatives do not hold accreditation to work in Belarus," she said. Vanshyna added that the targeted reporters are "just some individuals among Belarusian nationals who were illegally engaged in journalistic activities for foreign money on the territory of the Republic of Belarus for a long time." AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/03/3-cee/cee-280308.asp

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