Journalists continue to be detained and tried in Belarus
New York, January 13, 2011–As a part of the ongoing crackdown in Belarus on independent reporters, the Belarusian security service (KGB) has detained journalist Andrzej Poczobut, a Grodno correspondent for the largest Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, and freelance reporter Irina Charniauka in Minsk, local press reported today. Poczobut was also summarily tried and fined
More raids on journalists’ homes amid Belarus crackdown
New York, January 12, 2011–As part of an ongoing assault on the independent press in Belarus, KGB agents in Minsk raided the apartments of imprisoned journalist Irina Khalip and her mother, Lyutsina Khalip, and took the journalist’s computer, the independent news website Charter 97 reported. Today’s raids are the second at each apartment since the agency imprisoned the journalist on December…
Post-election crackdown on the press continues in Belarus
New York, January 11, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the ongoing official crackdown against the independent media in Belarus. The Belarusian security service, known as the KGB, continues to relentlessly raid newsrooms, confiscate reporting equipment from publications and journalists’ homes, imprison independent and pro-opposition journalists, and harass their families.
Journalists charged, police raids continue in Belarus
New York, January 3, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the European Union today to condition its diplomatic relations with Belarus on the release of all recently arrested journalists and the halt of official Minsk’s crackdown on the independent press.
Journalists held by Belarus KGB face up to 15 years in prison
New York, December 23, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged by the ongoing detention and potential prosecution of Belarusian journalists Natalya Radina, editor of the pro-opposition news website Charter 97, and Irina Khalip, local correspondent for the Moscow-based independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta. Both are considered suspects in organizing and participating in mass disorder–a charge that carries up to…
Dozens of journalists beaten, arrested in Belarus crackdown
New York, December 20, 2010–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the violent government crackdown against journalists covering demonstrations in Minsk against Sunday’s flawed presidential vote won by President Aleksandr Lukashenko. Security police have arrested at least 20 journalists and beaten at least 20 more between the outbreak of rallies Sunday evening and their forcible dispersal…
Widespread Net disruption surrounds Belarus election coverage
As I mentioned last Friday, local journalists in Belarus were preparing for targeted disruption to Internet communications during Sunday’s presidential elections. The online news site Charter ’97, which has experienced more than its fair share of denial-of-service (DOS) attacks and police raids in the past, was already warning its readers last week to use their…