29 Mar 11 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Belarusian politician Ales Mikhalevich has been granted political refugee status in the Czech Republic. He was imprisoned after running against Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus’ presidential elections. He claims that he was tortured in the custody of secret police, and was stripped naked and hung by his hands. Mikhalevich was one of the seven other candidates arrested during pro-democracy protests which saw more than 700 people detained.
29 Mar 11 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Reporters Aleksandr Lomashkin and Ales Asiptsu were arrested in separate incidents on Thursday, 24 March. Both were detained on the eve of “Freedom Day”, an unofficial holiday traditionally celebrated by members of the opposition. Lomashkin is a Russian journalist who worked in Belarus and founded the human rights website Svoboda. He was forced to get off a train at the Belarusian border and was searched by two officers who claimed that they were looking for drugs. He was arrested for “insulting an officer” and imprisoned for three days. Asipstu is an independent Belarusian journalist who was also arrested for allegedly “urinating in a public place.”
28 Mar 11 | News and features
Belarusian people are living under “an iron fist in an iron glove,” said Sir Tom Stoppard on the Radio 4 Today programme, after presenting a special commendation to prisoners of conscience in Belarus at the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards 2011
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24 Mar 11 | Awards, Middle East and North Africa, News and features
The 11th annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, sponsored by SAGE, were presented tonight (24 March) at a ceremony in London hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby
