OSCE protest against the persecution of media activists

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media said that she was deeply concerned by arrests of administrators of political social media groups in Belarus.

Dunja Mijatović described it as a crackdown on online dissent.

“I have repeatedly called on Belarusian authorities to stop persecuting journalists and bloggers. Unfortunately, recent detentions and searches in Minsk and elsewhere in the country show continued efforts to muzzle dissenting voices and clamp down on freedom of expression online,” Mijatović said.

Law enforcement officers in Minsk and Vitebsk detained the administrators of opposition groups using the Russian vkontakte.ru social media network. Among them were Pavel Yevtikheev, Andrey Tkachev, Roman Protasevich and Oleg Shramuk. Investigators also searched the apartment of Sergei Bespalov, confiscating his computer.

The Oktyabrsky district court in Minsk sentenced Yevtikheev and Tkachev to five and seven days in jail, respectively, on petty hooliganism charges.

Protasevich, a minor, was released after four hours. He says KGB investigators physically abused him in a bid to obtain the password of the group he administers. Shramuk was also released after an interrogation.

“The Belarusian authorities are using such charges to control the media and Internet communities. The detentions are a strike against freedom of expression and contravene OSCE commitments which Belarus has pledged to uphold,” Mijatović said.