Daily Journal:

Nobody knows anything. The head of the investigation of the city prosecutor's office accidentally let slip that another criminal case had been opened based on some information found on our computers. He let it slip in a conversation with Marina Koktysh, a journalist from the Narodnaya Volya newspaper. Marina still hasn’t given up hope of somehow getting her computer back. In March, four journalists had their computers confiscated during searches. The computers of Charter 97 were confiscated—eight of them—there was a search in the newspaper Narodnaya Volya, and the computers of two journalists—Svetlana Kalinkina and Marina Koktysh—were confiscated, and my place was searched. The reason for everyone to come to us and take away the equipment was supposedly some kind of criminal case initiated by the Gomel prosecutor’s office for slander against the head of the Gomel KGB Ivan Korzh. They did not specify on whose side the slander was made. It’s just that each of us was presented with a search warrant, signed by the Gomel prosecutor as part of a criminal case for libel against Ivan Korzh. Moreover, none of us at that time had ever even mentioned this person in our lives. Our equipment was confiscated and two examinations were carried out. We were summoned for interrogation and asked whether we had anything to do with the publication of materials about the “Hunting Case.” I wrote a text about this in Novaya Gazeta, in the issue dated March 15, the material was called “In the Hunting Ground”, it set out some details of this case. But I wrote about Korzh only after I was detained at the border, when I was traveling with my husband to Vilnius, they detained me for three hours, searched me and took away my husband’s computer. The search in the editorial office of Narodnaya Volya took place not long before, and then I already assumed that it was all connected. Before any actions began on the part of law enforcement agencies, I did not write anything about it.

In Gomel the following situation occurred: the local OBEP employees were developing the head of the local KGB, the same Korzh, who acquired some hunting grounds through dummies and very widely accepted all Minsk authorities. They carried out operational development, but no operational development can be hidden from the special services, especially from the head of the KGB. It ended with him going on the attack, and all these OBEP employees were convicted. He got ahead of them. They were arrested and, at the instigation of the KGB, accused of allegedly conducting the hunt themselves. Despite the fact that they never had hunting licenses, they did not do this. They were imprisoned.

We were asked, sort of on this occasion, sort of as a diversion: did we write anything about “Hunting.” But before this whole story with us began, none of us wrote anything about him. And then they asked in detail how, for example, the Charter 97 website is edited and how materials are received there. I was asked about the details of my relationship with Novaya Gazeta, how I send materials there, who puts them on, how this happens technically. That is, for the most part, using the “Hunting Case”, they were interested in the functioning of the work of the few independent journalists remaining in Belarus.

And then everything died out. Only we were all later presented with documents that stated that our computers were recognized as material evidence of some crime committed, so they would not be returned to us yet. Marina, apparently the most militant of us, says: “How will I survive without a computer? Why should I give them my computer?” And she was not too lazy to recently call there, the Gomel prosecutor’s office, and say: “Six months have already passed, return the equipment.” To which they answered: “We haven’t had your equipment for a long time, because it’s been in a special storage facility for a long time. She was taken away from us because the prosecutor’s office of the city of Minsk has opened a new criminal case, and they will now deal with you.” Marina called the Minsk city prosecutor's office, and the head of the investigation, Ivanov, told her: “Some information was found on your computers, I have no right to speak officially now, but, in any case, a criminal case has been opened.” He didn’t even say under what article, but said that an examination had been ordered - already the third in a row - of all our computers. And no one knows what will happen to us next. I think that nothing will be done before the presidential elections. Now our authorities are strenuously portraying liberalization to the West, and no facts of persecution of journalists should come to light now.

We suggested back in the spring that there was a specific task - to completely destroy the remaining independent journalism in Belarus. Another thing is that now, when the pre-election trend towards liberalization is visible, we all seem to have been formally left alone. But now we can see that this is all for the time being. Now that a host of international observers, OSCE representatives, and foreign journalists have already landed in Belarus, naturally, at this time we can be calm.