detentions

Andrey Kukharchyk, the editor-in-chief of the Virtual Brest website, has been charged with insulting a government official, the Interior Ministry reports.

The term of detention of investigative journalist and Belsat TV contributor Ihar Ilyash has been extended; he has not been released on Monday.

Ales became unavailable on 16 July.

Alyaksei Shota had his laptop, phone, three old hard drives, and a WRW umbrella taken away.

On May 21, the Minsk police detained freelance journalists Ales Silich and Natallya Valakida; they were taken to Pershamayski district police department.

On Friday, Homiel-based journalist Larysa Shchyrakova reported her being detained on Facebook.

On Friday evening, four policemen have detained Current Time journalists in the Minsk Hotel where they are staying in the run-up to the presidential election.

On June 4, Alena Dubovik, a freelance journalist who contributes to Belsat, and cameraman Ales Barazenka were detained in the town of Babruysk where they were covering wannabe presidential candidate Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s pre-election picket.