BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/03/2008

Belarus - arrested journalists released

Belsat TV channel, based in Poland, has informed that all journalists detained on Thursday in Belarus have been released.

Agnieszka Romaszewska, the head of the channel, said that contact was established with journalists from the independent media. According to them, the large scale arrests of journalists were connected to an investigation concerning the violation of the dignity of President Alexander Lukashenko.

A few years ago, some journalists published cartoons allegedly mocking the president on the internet.

The head of Belsat told Polish Radio One that the investigation was just an excuse for an inspection and control of independent media. Romaszewska added that many journalists detained had nothing to do with the cartoons.

The majority of the detained journalists work for Belsat and two independent radio stations. According to an independent internet portal, journalists were detained in almost all major cities in Belarus.

Belsat is a satellite television channel broadcasting from Poland. It was set up on the basis of an agreement between the Polish Foreign Ministry and the Polish public television and started broadcasting in December 2007.(

Source:

http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/foreign-affairs/?id=79039

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