BKGB MAKES UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK ON FREE PRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 000221 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2018 TAGS: BO KPAO PHUM PINR PREL SUBJECT: BKGB MAKES UNPRECEDENTED ATTACK ON FREE PRESS REF: A. MINSK 219 ¶B. MINSK 217 Classified By: Charge Jonathan Moore for reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (SBU) Independent media report a massive nationwide crackdown against the independent media in Belarus. According to one press source, the BKGB are searching the offices of representatives of foreign-based media outlets including USAID-funded European Radio for Belarus (ERB), Radio Racija, and TV Belsat in Minsk, Gomel, Grodno, Vitebsk, Brest, Bobruysk and Beryoza. In at least one case, according to the press service of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and Charter97, the basis for the search was the Belarusian Criminal Code statute prohibiting defamation of the president. ¶2. (C) Zhanna Litvina, Chair of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) characterized the crackdown for A/DCM as "an unprecedented attempt to scare journalists and to create barriers to access to objective information." Litvina said that various means including courts and police had been used to intimidate journalists in the past, the fact that today's searches and interrogations were conducted by the BKGB was a novelty. She added that many journalists had been called in to the BKGB for questioning and that the searches had included the confiscation of computers and other materials. (Note: Litvina was careful not to use the word "detention," though other sources like the human rights NGO Charter97 said journalists were detained. End note.) According to Litvina, BAJ was calling on international journalists' associations, European institutions and foreign embassies to protest this action to the Belarusian authorities. Comment -------------- ¶3. (C) Apparently the Lukashenko regime is unwilling to let the recent up-tick in harassment of the free press end with the beatings and arrests of a few journalists March 25 (ref A). We agree with Litvina that the use of the KGB -- as Minsk's Locally Employed Staff have experienced -- is an attempt to frighten independent actors into submission (ref B). Post will investigate the possibility of use of the Global Human Rights Defenders Fund for the replacement of the stolen material. Moore MOORE