Leader widens bid to silence work of independent press

KYIV, Ukraine — Belarusian authorities on Friday widened their crackdown on independent media and activists, raiding offices and journalists’ homes across the exSoviet nation.

The Belarusian Association of Journalists said the agents searched apartments and offices of at least 21 journalists in the capital of Minsk and cities of Brest, Gomel, Grodno and Pinsk.

“The authorities are using an entire arsenal of repressions against journalists — intimidation, beatings, searches and arrests,” said the association’s head, Andrei Bastunets.

Among those targeted Friday were journalists who cooperated with the Belsat TV channel funded by Poland and the U.S.funded RFE/RL broadcaster.

RFE/RL journalist Aleh Hruzdzilovich was detained after the search, his wife Maryana said in a telephone interview from Minsk.

“Nine people broke into our apartment, seized all the equipment and took Aleh away in handcuffs,” she said.

The authorities also broke down the door of the RFE/RL’s Minsk office to search it.

The new raids continue a sweeping clampdown on independent media and nongovernment organizations in the country.

Earlier this week, 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.

The action came after the country’s authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko promised to “deal with” nongovernmental organizations that he accuses of fomenting unrest.

Belarus was rocked by months of protests after Lukashenko’s August 2020 election to a sixth term in a vote that the opposition and the West saw as rigged.

Belarusian authorities responded to opposition demonstrations with a major crackdown, including police beating thousands of demonstrators and arresting more than 35,000 people. Leading opposition figures have been jailed or forced to leave the country.