Belarusian police raided homes and offices of journalists and rights activists

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko delivers a speech in Minsk, Belarus, May 26, 2021. Press Office of the President of the Republic of Belarus / Document via REUTERS /

KYIV, July 16 (Reuters) – Belarusian police raided the offices and homes of journalists and human rights activists for the third day in a row on Friday, extending what rights activists say is another crackdown on human rights activists. opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko.

Polish channel Nexta Live said the office of US broadcaster Radio Liberty in the capital Minsk was among those searched. Belarusian human rights organization Viasna-96 reported that two Radio Liberty journalists had been arrested.

Belarusian security officials were not immediately available for comment.

Authorities have shut down a number of non-state media and human rights groups since protests began last August against a presidential election that the opposition said was rigged. Lukashenko, in power since 1994, denies electoral fraud.

Police officers went to the home of a journalist with Polish television station Belsat and those of several local reporters on Friday, Viasna-96 reported.

On Wednesday and Thursday, security officials searched around 20 human rights, charity, media and specialist institutions, arresting more than 15 people, including the head of Viasna-96. Read more

Searches and detentions in the former Soviet republic have been condemned by Western politicians, international human rights activists and Belarusian protest leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, based in Lithuania.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain condemned “escalating repression” in Belarus, and that the European Union and the United States had imposed sanctions on Belarus in recent months. Read more

Written by Pavel Polityuk, edited by Timothy Heritage

Our standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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