Iryna Khalip on KGB list

A journalist was detained at the airport as she was boarding a flight to Warsaw.

Iryna Khalip, a journalist for Russia-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was going to fly to Warsaw this morning to see her husband Andrei Sannikov, the leader of the civil initiative European Belarus and 2010 presidential candidate.

As Iryna Khalip told charter97.org, security officers at Minsk-2 airport took away her passport during the check-in procedure. The journalist was told she was on the KGB list, so her flight to Poland had to be agreed on with the KGB.

Iryna Khalip received her passport back only 30 minutes before departure.

On July 19, Minsk's Partyzanski district court granted freedom to Iryna Khalip after expiration of her sentence for taking part in protests against the rigged election on December 19, 2010. The police assured the journalist that all restrictions on her had been lifted.