June 25, Pozirk. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has urged exiled activists to observe personal safety measures in connection with reports of potential Minsk’s attempts to identify them.
Several people have been receiving promises of monetary reward for taking pictures at the upcoming rally in Warsaw with the participation of Cichanoŭskaja and her dissident husband Siarhiej Cichanoŭski released from prison four days ago, Mediazona said.
Unknown individuals reportedly pose as journalists, working for portmedia.io, and offer jobs to photographers with promises of “extensive coverage on Portmedia and Baltic News.” Some offers came from users registered as Mariya Gabdullina and Tatyana Lebedeva, with remuneration exceeding €100.
Similar job ads from unverified or new accounts have also been posted in chats, Naša Niva said, noting that some messages were sent from the account of Volha Sitnik, jailed editor of the Belarusian Wikipedia. The use of phones belonging to prisoners is typical for Belarusian police, journalists added.
Belarusian law enforcement agencies have repeatedly warned Belarusians against taking part in opposition events abroad, threatening criminal prosecution.
The number of Belarusian holders of Polish residence permits surged from 28,000 in August 2020 to more than 143,000 in late February, according to Polish official statistics.
The total number of Belarusians in Poland is hard to estimate due to their different emigration status but Polish authorities said it may exceed 350,000 people. Over the past few years, Belarusians have accounted for the second-largest national minority in Poland after Ukrainians.
