On Thursday afternoon, law enforcers showed a search warrant to blogger Ihar Losik, who is also an administrator of popular Telegram channel Беларусь головного мозга (Belarus Of The Brain). After the search, Losik was detained.
According to preliminary information, nine persons – masked investigators and officers in civvies – took part in the raid.
“[The place of] one of our administrators, Ihar Losik, was searched. We may temporarily freeze this channel. We will keep you informed on this channel or others,” his fellows said on Telegram.
A laptop, a computer and a phone were seized from the blogger. The operation was pre-arranged, his colleagues say.
“Detaining Losik is linked to Lukashenka’s statements about Telegram. Needless to say, it is not the end of the cleanup,” they stressed.
During the search, his wife Darya and their child had to wait in the communal entrance hallway. According to her, the visitors were demonstrating their aggressive attitude.
“They said that if we didn’t open the door, it would be blown up,” Darya says.
Then Losik was taken away by the police. It is unknown what the blogger is charged with. However, the issuance of the warrant can be indicative of opening a criminal case.
On Thursday, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka made a speech, slamming ‘puppeteers’ from Poland and Russia who are ‘behind spreading fakes’ about him and his family on the Internet, including on Telegram.
The Belarus Of The Brain telegram channel has more than 166,000 subscribers.
