SK Belarus considered the "abstract" demand to initiate a matter after the mass detention of journalists

The Investigative Committee of Belarus refused to verify and initiate a criminal case on the fact of the mass detention of journalists in covering protests in Minsk and Brest on August 27.

"We inform that the information presented in the appeal is essentially abstract in nature, in connection with which there are no grounds for conducting inspections and decision -making in the order established by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus," the head of the department of citizens of the Central Apparatus of the Belorussian Association of Journalists ( Bazh ) says.

On August 27, in Minsk on Liberty Square, on Independence Square, on Independence Avenue, and 47 journalists were detained in Brest. The Bazh statement says that the police destroyed the initial filming materials, which are the intellectual property of journalists and the media, accompanying this with threats of damage or destruction of professional technology of journalists.

During the incident in Minsk, journalists of the publications and portals of Radio Liberty, Belapan, Tut.by, Reuters, our NIVA, AP, Belsat, TASS, Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus, DW, BBC, Lenta, AFP, TVN Poland and the present in Brest were detained in Minsk. Journalists Onliner.by and Tut.by were detained.

Almost all journalists were released after checking the documents, but four of them refused to give their smartphones to check the police officers, for which protocols were drawn up for participation in an unauthorized action. Journalists Katerina Andreev, Maxim Gorchanka, Alexander Vasyukovich and Andrei Yaroshevich left temporary content before the trial. The Swedish journalist Paul Hansen was deported, and the journalist Belapan Tatyana Korovenkova from the police department was taken by an ambulance.

On August 28, the day after the mass detention of journalists, Bazh sent a statement to the chairman of the Investigative Committee on the initiation of a criminal case on the prevention of legal professional activities of journalists. The document described in detail the circumstances of the case, as well as the justification of the need to institute criminal proceedings on the grounds of Article 198 of the Criminal Code.

A few days after the mass detention of journalists of employees of foreign publications, illuminating events in Belarus, they began to massively notify the deprivation of accreditation and deportation from the country. About 20 journalists, including Belarusian Air Force, Reuters, Radieo Svaboda, AFP, AR, as well as four Russian journalists working on the Associated Press and the German Channel Ard, lost accreditation.

The press service of the Russian Embassy in Minsk reported that citizens of the Russian Federation were deprived of the accreditation of the Foreign Ministry "by decision of the interdepartmental commission to ensure information security." Alexander Lukashenko, before the elections, demanded to send foreign media journalists, who "do not observe our laws and call people to the Maidan ." He expressed special dissatisfaction with the work of the Air Force, the resources of Radio Liberty and the Belarusian edition of the Komsomolskaya Pravda, and reported to the officials because they ceased to consider themselves the "owners" of the country.