Belarusian opposition activist Andrei Sannikov has been released from detention and pardoned by president Alexander Lukashenko, Index on Censorship has learned. (more…)
Activists in Minsk have been arrested for laying flowers and detained by police at Kastrychnitskaya metro station during a ceremony to open a memorial sign “River of Memory” near the station entrance. They were then taken to the Leninski district police department. Viasna Human Rights Centre reported the names of two of the individuals as Anastasia Shuleika and Yury Khodus, while other reports say the activists were accused of swearing.
Despite official denials, it seems clear that the Lukashenko regime has blacklisted key media and opposition figures, preventing them from leaving the country. Andrei Aliaksandrau reports
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Andrej Dynko, managing editor of independent Belarusian newspaper Nasha Niva and Index on Censorship contributor, was ordered to get off a train while travelling from Minsk to the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Border guards did not give the journalist explanations, recommending instead he get further information from the migration and citizenship department of Belarus’ ministry of interior affairs. Several other Belarusian public figures have faced similar difficulties leaving the country recently, including the opposition United Civil Party leader Anatol Lyabedzka.