Belarus Archives - Page 72 of 75 - Index on Censorship

News Alert: Index award nominees attacked in Belarus

Reports are reaching Index on Censorship that the office of Charter 97, the Belarusian democracy campaigning organisation, has been raided by authorities. Computers and other equipment have been seized and Head of Press Natalia Radzina is believed to have been beaten.

Meanwhile the home of Andrey Sannikov (International Coordinator of Charter’97, who has announced his intention to run for president of Belarus this year) and his wife, journalist Irina Khalip, was searched for three hours by police.

Charter 97 has been nominated for the 2010 Index on Censorship/Bindmans Law and Campaigning Award.

Police have seized a Polish cultural centre in the town of Ivyanets outside Minsk. An activist who was travelling to the centre has also been detained. President Lukashenko claimed in 2005 the organisation responsible for the centre was trying to destabilise his regime and set up a government-approved alternative. Both the EU and the US have condemned the actions. There are around 400,000 Poles in Belarus. Belarus has also recently detained 20 activists demonstrating in support of political prisoners.

Belarusians forced to show ID before using internet cafes

Web users will be forced to show their passports or other ID before using Belaruse’s internet cafes from July 1. President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s decree also requires ISPs to store data on individuals’ web usage for a year and to hand that information over to law enforcement agencies upon request. Lutz Guellner, spokesman for European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, condemned the decree for further restricting free expression in Belarus.

PAST EVENT: Protesting for a free Belarus

Britain’s theatre community comes out against oppression and censorship in the “last dictatorship of Europe”. Join the protest in London

Sir Tom Stoppard and actor/director Samuel West are leading a protest of high-profile theatre practitioners outside the Belarussian Embassy at 6 Kensington Court, London, W8 5DL on Thursday 1^st July at 11.30am.