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Deutsch: Weißrussische Behörden drangsalieren Oppositionsgruppen im Internet

As elections in Belarus approach, independent or pro-opposition journalists and Internet users are harassed by the Belarusian authorities, pressured and even put to jail.

"The call for an election boycott by some opposition figures has joined the long list of subjects that are off limits. Those who mention the boycott, such as opposition groups on social networks, are immediately sanctioned. It is illusory to talk of free elections in such a media environment," stated Reporters Without Borders.

As reported by the human rights group Viasna on 31 August, the mobile phone company BelCel blocked access to the pro-opposition news websites Charter97 and BelPartizan.

The State Security Committee arrested a series of moderators of online communities who were interrogated and beaten, their apartments were searched and their laptops confiscated. Pavel Yeutsikhiyeu, one of the moderators of the "We’ve had enough of this Lukashenko” group on the Russian social network VKontake, was sentenced by Minsk’s Kastrychnitski district court on 31 August to five days in prison on a charge of disturbing public order and Andrey Tkachou, the administrator of the Only SHOS group, was sentenced to seven days in prison on the same charge. The authorities also hacked into two online discussions groups obtaining the names of their presumed moderators and administrators and removed much of the content of these groups. The group “We’ve had enough of this Lukashenko” is now controlled by the State Security Committee after having been hacked, deleted and restored. The secret services do not delete information from the community, but publish libel against group's administrators.

Also OSCE has again showed deep concern over the situation in Belarus. “I have repeatedly called on Belarusian authorities to stop persecuting journalists and bloggers. Unfortunately, recent detentions and searches in Minsk and elsewhere in the country show continued efforts to muzzle dissenting voices and clamp down on freedom of expression online,” said the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatovic who added: “The Belarusian authorities are using such charges to control the media and Internet communities. The detentions are a strike against freedom of expression and contravene OSCE commitments which Belarus has pledged to uphold.”

Opposition journalists and cyber-dissidents hounded in run-up to election (3.09.2012)
http://en.rsf.org/belarus-opposition-journalists-and-cyber-03-09-2012,...

OSCE Press Release - OSCE media freedom representative concerned by arrest of social media activists in Belarus (4.09.2012)
http://www.osce.org/fom/93345

KGB continues crackdown on social network groups (4.09.2012)
http://spring96.org/en/news/56709

Crackdown on social networks: interrogations, searches, arrests (31.08.2012)
http://spring96.org/en/news/56544