May 17, Pozirk. Law enforcers have searched the apartment in Minsk where Barys Harecki, deputy chairman of the exiled Belarusian Association of Journalists, is registered.
A criminal case has been filed against him for unknown reasons, the BAJ reported.
“Law enforcers came there with a search warrant. I do not know if they stole anything from the apartment. People are very scared and are afraid to communicate now. But there are no belongings of mine in the apartment, because I left Belarus three years ago. Still, this is very unpleasant. It is clearly another attack on the BAJ and independent journalists by the law enforcers, aimed at forcing us to stop our work, which is important for the Belarusian public,” Harecki said.
The leaders of the association were forced to leave Belarus in 2021 after a crackdown on the BAJ.
In 2023, the KGB declared it an extremist group. In spite of its forced relocation, the BAJ continues to support Belarusian journalists and media.
On May 3, the association published the report “Mass Media in Belarus in 2023.” That year, the government’s repressive policy on independent media continued as part of a “broader crackdown on dissent,” according to the report.
