On 18 May 2010, the local offices of the ‘Havary Praudu’ (Speak The Truth) civil campaign in twelve Belarusian towns and cities including Brest, Homel, Hrodna, Barysau, Mahiliou and Minsk were almost simultaneously searched by the Belarusian police and the committee of National Security (KGB).

Further Information

'Havary Praudu' is a civil campaign which aims to provide transparency of information in Belarus, where the main media outlets remain under strict State control. Almost 30 campaign activists were also detained and interrogated.

The search at the campaign’s Minsk office, in which office equipment and printed materials were seized, was sanctioned by the city’s Leninski district Prosecutor’s Office. Searches were also carried out in the homes of several activists for the campaign; their personal computers, flash cards and mobile telephones were seized and almost 30 activists were detained and interrogated in local police departments.

All but three of the activists were released on the same day; Messrs Uladzimir Niakliaeu, Andrei Dzmitryeu, and Syarhey Vaznyak were arrested and held for 72 hours under Paragraph 1, Article 250 of the Criminal Code: ‘dissemination of false information about goods and services’.

Belarusian human rights activists claim that the searches are unlawful and link the events to the upcoming presidential elections. On 19 May 2010, at a press conference held in Minsk, the activists of 'Havary Praudu' said that the repression against the civil campaign indicates its efficiency and confirmed that they were going to continue to carry out their legitimate work.

On the same day, President of the European Parliament Mr Jerzy Buzek called on the Belarusian authorities to “stop immediately all repression and intimidation of civil society groups, and to get back on the way to democratisation”.

Previously, on 16 March 2010, the Belarusian police carried out a similar search at the press-room of the independent website charter97.org. Computers and other office equipment were seized and the functioning of the website was paralysed for some hours. On the same day, mass searches took place in the flats of several independent journalists in Minsk.

Front Line believes that the searches are a direct result of the legitimate work in the defence of human rights carried out by 'Havary Praudu', and represent an attempt to crack down on freedom of information and civic activities in Belarus.