UN Special Rapporteur on Belarus: Situation With Human Rights Disastrously Deteriorates

The international community must now become more vigilant.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation with human rights in Belarus Miklós Haraszti, whose mandate is not recognized by the official Minsk, warned against using punitive measures against journalists in connection with the BelTA case, Interfax reports.

The statement of M. Haraszti is published on the official website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

"These actions are aimed at destroying the remnants of journalistic independence in Belarus," the special rapporteur said in connection with the "BelTA case".

"What we see, unfortunately, is the usual falsification of criminal charges against independent journalists. Perhaps journalists just used each other's passwords from time to time to access the news services of the state news agency BelTA, "he continued.

At the same time M. Haraszti stated that "the statement about "significant damage" is hypocritical, given that BelTA receives sufficient funding from taxpayers and even a part of their income does not come from subscriptions."

"In the sixth year of my mandate, the situation with human rights in Belarus is actually deteriorating: the international community must now become more vigilant about the fate of those who inform the public," the special rapporteur concluded.

As reported, on August 7-8, searches were conducted in the offices of the country's largest news Internet resource tut.by, the BelaPAN news agency and several other media, in connection with the criminal case of unauthorized access to information of the agency "BelTA".