Сriminal case opened against Novaya Europe Belarus correspondent Iryna Khalip

Belarusian prosecutors have opened a criminal case for “extremism” against Novaya Gazeta Europe correspondent Iryna Khalip, the journalist told Novaya Gazeta Europe on Thursday.

Khalip, who left Belarus with her son in 2020 amid dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s crackdown on the political opposition and has covered Belarus for Novaya Gazeta Europe since 2022, said that police officers came to her parents’ apartment in Minsk and questioned her mother, Lutsyna Belzatskaya, asking for Khalip’s location and phone number.

Though the police apparently found no items connected to Khalip’s journalistic activities during the search, they told her family that an “extremism” case had been opened against her, though they provided no further details.

“This is a very clear message: remember that you have family in Belarus before you slander our prosperous regime,” Khalip said on Thursday. “Dictatorial regimes around the world love sending messages like this.”

“It’s wrong to assume that someone who has managed to flee the country is now out of reach,” Khalip continued. “Those who have left their loved ones behind in their country of origin are just as vulnerable, knowing they cannot protect their loved ones from persecution”.

Khalip’s husband, Andrey Sannikov, stood against Lukashenko in the country’s 2010 presidential election, which jump-started a persecution campaign against him and his wife. In 2011, Khalip was sentenced to two years in prison for participating in post-election anti-government protests, but was given a suspended sentence. Sannikov, however, was sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting mass disorder”, though he was granted early release and left the country in 2012.