Winter in Belarus starts with massive searches

It is report­ed about search­es of Mazyr human rights defend­er Uladz­imir Tseli­a­pun and Vit­seb­sk activists Uladz­imir Kiyko and Mikalai Kachuret­s­ki.

Search­es were also con­duct­ed in Mahil­iou region, the FID detained two jour­nal­ists: Siarhei Niarouny and Valeryia Lep­e­sha­va.

Niarouny had two search­es and inter­ro­ga­tion. Data stor­age devices were seized.

A month ago Siarhei Niarouny was searched, his equip­ment was seized, and he was fined for dis­trib­ut­ing extrem­ist mate­ri­als — for react­ing to pub­li­ca­tions rules extrem­ist on social net­works.

The search of jour­nal­ist Larysa Schyrako­va in Homel was con­duct­ed by the FID offi­cers and last­ed about 1.5 hours. They took her phone, equip­ment, flash and hard dri­ves. After the search, she was inter­ro­gat­ed in the FID where she refused to tes­ti­fy.

Schyrako­va was ver­bal­ly warned of respon­si­bil­i­ty for dis­clo­sure of infor­ma­tion about the case, so she could­n’t share the details with human rights activists.

The search was also con­duct­ed in the house of Hrod­na jour­nal­ist Nadzeya Vitsi­na. She was detained «in con­nec­tion with her per­son­al cor­re­spon­dence». Lat­er Nadzeya was released.

More­over, mass search­es have been tak­ing place in Min­sk since 7 a.m. Accord­ing to human rights activists, at least 10 peo­ple were searched.