31 March 2008
Polish foundation urges support for Belarusian independent reporters

The Polish-based Freedom and Democracy Foundation has issued an appeal for support for Belarusian independent reporters whose homes and offices were raided in nationwide crackdown the previous week.

On Thursday, police and KGB officers raided offices of pro-opposition broadcasters funded by the European Union and Poland, and the apartments of journalists working with them, seizing broadcast equipment. Other independent journalists also were targeted.

The foundation urged the Polish media, non-governmental organizations, local authorities and common people "for whom freedom of expression are not hollow words" to donate PCs and cameras to the Belarusian reporters, suggesting giving them two pieces of cameras or computers for one gone.

The foundation supports projects aimed at promoting democracy in Belarus. It monitors human rights abuses committed in the country and issues lists of Belarusian officials who it believes should be barred from traveling to Poland over rights violations. Its annual report for 2007 featured 427 names, and it was delivered to the Polish authorities.

The Belarusian foreign ministry defended the crackdown on the broadcasters, saying that the media outlets had not been accredited with the country's authorities.

The US Department of State condemned the raids. "The regime of Alyaksandr Lukashenka has again shown itself as a brutal, authoritarian dictatorship that blatantly ignores human rights and fundamental freedoms," it said.