Police Raid More Newsrooms and Arrest More Journalsts. UPDATE

August 7

Journalists Detained in BelTA Case on August 7:

Tat­siana Kar­avenko­va (Bela­pan)

Andrei Ser­a­da (Bela­PAN)

Mary­na Zolata­va (Tut.by)

Han­na Kalty­hi­na (Tut.by)

Ulyana Babayed (Tut.by)

Hali­na Ulasik (Tut.by)

Dzmit­ry Bobryk (Tut.by)

Han­na Yer­ma­chonak (Tut.by)

Yauheniya Beraz­iuk (Tut.by)

Lud­mi­la Chek­ina (Tut.by).

In the evening, the following journalists were released after questioning by the Investigative Committee:

Ulyana Babayed

Yauheniya Beraz­iuk

Andrei Ser­a­da

Dzmit­ry Bobryk

Lud­mi­la Chek­ina.

At least five journalists remain under arrest:

Mary­na Zolata­va

Han­na Kalty­hi­na

Han­na Yer­ma­chonak

Tat­siana Kar­avenko­va.

On 7 August police searched the new­rooms of Bela­PAN and Tut.by, and the news­room of Navu­ka (Sci­ence) news­pa­per locat­ed in the build­ing of the Belaru­sian Acad­e­my of Sci­ences. The edi­to­r­i­al staff refused to tell the details, refer­ring to a nondis­clo­sure doc­u­ment they had signed.

The search­es also took place in the apart­ments of Ulyana Babayed, Han­na Yer­ma­chonak, Hali­na Ulasik, and Mary­na Zolata­va.

The police also searched the sum­mer house of Bela­PAN jour­nal­ist Tat­siana Kar­avenko­va in Zhodzish­ki vil­lage of Hrod­na region (where she was on vaca­tion). Her Min­sk apart­ment was searched on August 8.

August 8

Police search the apart­ment of a well-known jour­nal­ist and media expert Pauliuk Byk­ous­ki. His wife is a press-sec­re­tary of the For Free­dom move­ment.  

Jour­nal­ist Ali­ak­sei Zhukau, who used to be the edi­tor of Sel­skaya Has­padar­ka (Agri­cul­ture) mag­a­zine and worked with the Belarusy i Rynak (Belaru­sians and Mar­ket) news­pa­per was detained at his house in Barau­liany along with his wife.

Jour­nal­ists of real estate por­tal Realt.by informed BAJ about search­es under BelTA case in their office this morn­ing.

The search was con­duct­ed by the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee. The police  seized com­put­ers and lap­tops.

At the moment, four jour­nal­ists: Ihar Khmara, Uladzis­lau Kulet­s­ki, Maria Saro­ka and Ale­na Maslouskaya, Stanis­lau Matvien­ka are in the build­ing of the Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee, wait­ing for inter­ro­ga­tion.

They were released after ques­tion­ing:

Ari­na Zhuko­va

Igor Khmara (Realt.by)

Maria Soro­ka (Realt.by)

Ele­na Maslovskaya (Realt.by)

Vladislav Kulet­sky (Realt.by).

Detained for 72 hours:

Pavlyuk Bykovsky

Alex­ey Zhukov

August 9

Bela­PAN Edi­tor-in-Chief Iri­na Lev­shi­na is detained. In her apart­ment was searched.

The Inves­tiga­tive Com­mit­tee con­firmed the deten­tion.

The edi­tor of TUT.BY Gali­na Ulasik was released. She has the sta­tus of a sus­pect in the case. It is pro­hib­it­ed to dis­close the case mate­ri­als.