Belarus targets rights activists, journalists with raids
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Authorities in Belarus raided the offices and homes of dozens of human rights activists and journalists Wednesday in a sweeping crackdown a day after the country's authoritarian president promised to “deal with” non-governmental organizations that he accuses of fomenting unrest.
Law enforcement officers raided the homes of 10 workers of the Viasna human rights center, as well as its offices in Minsk and other cities. They also searched a number of other Belarusian NGOs and journalists in the ex-Soviet state.
More than 40 raids took place across the country. The chairperson of the Belarusian Association of Journalists said officers broke the doors into the organization’s office in the capital and didn’t present a search warrant.
“The most massive conveyor belt of repressions in the country's modern history has been activated in Belarus,” Andrei Bastunets, the head of the journalists' association, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview after the Wednesday morning raid.
The renowned Viasna center has monitored human rights in Belarus for a quarter-century. Authorities revoked its credentials in 2003 and its leader, Ales Bialiatski, was arrested in 2012 and spent two years behind bars.
Bialiatski was detained on unspecified charges Wednesday, and the raids paralyzed the work of several regional branches of Viasna. Viasna's workers whose homes were searched were also taken to the Belarus' Investigative Committee for questioning.
The human rights center said in a statement that it would not cease its activities under pressure. It condemned “the new wave of repression against members of our organization and civil society in Belarus.”
“The real motive for the persecution is our fight, together with Belarus' entire human rights community, for...