Computers seized from Vitsebsk journalist’s apartment

The apartment of Syarhei Serabro, the editor of the Internet newspaper “Popular news of Vitsebsk”, was searched on January 13.

Neither the journalist nor his wife was present during the search in the apartment they rent.

As Syarhei Serabro told BelaPAN, the owner of the apartment phoned his wife and said she had taken a leave from work on demand of militia to open the apartment militia was going to search. Militiamen didn’t tell her what they would be looking for.

It is not excluded that the search was connected with the case of Syarhei Kavalenka, who hung out a national white-red-white flag at the top of the Christmas tree in Vitsebsk on January 7. Syarhei Serabro took photo of the flag, which was removed 15 minutes later. According to him, he received a telephone call from an investigator of the militia department if the Vitsebsk region executive committee, who invited him for a conversation over the photo of the white-red-white flag on the Christmas tree. The journalist refused to come unless an official summons was sent to him.

According to preliminary information, two computers with photo archives and a camera were seized from Serabro’s apartment.

The photos of the Christmas with the white-red-white flag tree on Victory square in Vitsebsk were published by the website “Popular news of Vitsebsk” and a number of Belarusian and Rusisan media.

We remind that on January 7 a national white-red-white was hung out at the top of the 35-metres-high Christmas tree set up on Victory square in Vitsebsk. An activist of CCP BPF, 34-year-old Syarhei Kavalenka was detained for the act. On January 10 the prosecutor of Vitsebsk decided to place him in the remand prison for 2 months. A case on charges relating Article 339 Part 2 of the Criminal Code (repeated hooliganism, or committed by a group of persons, or connected with committing less serious bodily harm) has been opened against him. He faces up to 6 years of imprisonment under this article. On January 12, the oppositionist was released under his own recognizance.