Belarus police target Vyasna, other NGOs with raids - RFE/RL

Photo credit: Deutsche Welle

Belarusian police have raided the offices of 12 nongovernmental organizations, including the Vyasna human rights center and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee, as authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka further ramps up his crackdown on opponents and dissent, as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

Activists said the offices searched on July 14 also included those of the Lawtrend rights group, the Association of the World's Belarusians Batslaushchyna (Fatherland), the Names project, the Territory of Rights group, the Gender Perspectives human rights organization, the Belarusian Association of Journalists, the Union of Belarusian Writers, the Belarusian Popular Front, the For Freedom movement, and the BEROC Center of Economic Investigations.

Belarusian authorities have moved to shut down critical and non-state media outlets and human rights bodies in the wake of mass protests last August after a presidential election the opposition said was rigged.

Vyasna is the largest rights body in the former Soviet country and one of the main sources of information on political detentions and arrests.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty