Journalist detained by armed special police troops :: Charter'97 :: News

On September 1 in Darashevichy village (Petrykauski District) a group of armed special police officers under the direction of major S. Kutasau detained a journalist (Anatolij Hatouchyts, chairperson of Hrodna affiliate of BAJ) for 1,5 hours. The journalist was interviewing villagers and taking pictures of the barrier separating the village from the river Prypiat. (This photo-report was for "Narodnaja Vola"). A. Hatouchyts`s SONY dictaphones (digital and cassette) and a "Zenit" camera were confiscated, his car was searched and 4 audio cassettes with music were confiscated too. Nothing has been given back yet.

The head of the group phoned somebody, and when the journalist asked whether he had violated some law, the police officer said: "No, but we will have to wait for the higher-ups ".
An hour later a young plain-clothes man arrived in a white "Mercedes" minibus 21-40 КЕ, he said he was the head of the President`s custodial service Uladzimir Mikhalaevich and claimed that in connection with the President`s visit to Petrykauski District an operation called "Antiterror" was being carried out. That is why it was necessary to inspect dictaphones, cameras and other equipment. He also said that at that moment the President was in his summer residence not far from Darashevichy.

The BAJ Monitoring Service