Committee to Protect Journalists calls to stop blocking Charter and release Alesin

The international human rights organisation has appealed to the Belarusian authorities.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a statement that reports about new repression against independent websites in Belarus and the arrest of Aliaksandr Alesin, an observer for Belorusy i Rynok newspaper. The organisation recalls that Alesin was detained on accusations of espionage.

“Alesin, reporter and military analyst with the Minsk-based independent newspaper Belorusy i rynok (Belarusians and the Market), went missing and stopped answering his phone on November 25. On Thursday, the independent news website Charter 97 reported, citing unidentified sources, that Alesin was detained by KGB agents at a coffee shop in Minsk, where he met with a friend,” the statement says.

If convicted, Aliaksandr Alesin may be imprisoned for up to 15 years in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists says.

“Alesin is known for analytical reports on Belarus' military-industrial complex, as well as commentary on developments in the conflict in neighboring Ukraine. In commentary for Charter 97, he spoke about deployment of Russian military jets and S-300 surface-to-air missiles as deterrence to NATO,” the statement reads.

Natallia Radzina, the chief editor of Charter 97, told the CPJ that the Belarusian authorities want to block the website inside the country beginning January 1, 2015. According to her, Ihar Shunevich, Belarus's interior minister, voiced his demand during a government meeting Thursday, when his agency discussed measures to counter the spread of narcotics and other illegal substances. He proposed to completely block domestic access to websites on the government-run blacklist, which includes Charter 97.

“We urge Belarusian authorities to remove Charter 97 from its list of malicious websites and stop obstructing access to news,” the CPJ statement says.