Belarus has now vowed to hold accountable those involved in parachuting teddy bears from a Swedish plane with slogans of human rights into the country, after initially denying their existence. Now there are fears for young journalist Anton Suryapin. Andrei Aliaksandrau reports
(more…)
A young Belarusian journalist has been arrested and detained – for taking photographs of teddy bears the government denies exist. Andrei Aliaksandru reports (more…)
Former Belarusian presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov was removed from a train travelling from Minsk to Vilnius at a station near the Lithuanian border yesterday. The activist, who was released from detention and pardoned by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko in April, was reportedly heading to a conference in the Lithuanian capital. On 2 June fellow activist Dmitri Bandarenka was also removed from a train travelling from Vilnius to Minsk. His personal belongings were searched and he was made to strip down to socks. Bandarenka was travelling from Lithuania, where he had received medical treatment, and arrived in Minsk on the next train.
ADVOCACY LETTER
Dear President Aliyev,Re: The brutal attack on Idrak Abbasov and assault of four other journalists on 18 April 2012
The Azerbaijani authorities must launch an immediate, independent and transparent investigation into the brutal attack on investigative journalist Idrak Abbasov and the assault of journalist Gunay Musayeva on Wednesday 18 April 2012 in a village on the outskirts of Baku. The subsequent assaults on three other journalists, Esmira Javadova, Elnur Mammadov and Qalib Hasanov, who tried to report on the attacks against their colleagues, should also be part of this investigation.