Zakhar Shcherbakov

Affiliated media: BelaPAN, Journalist

Incident date: August 18, 2021

Attack type:

• Confiscation/seizure of property, vehicles, equipment, documents

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Minsk

Additional information:

Early in the morning, police came to search the homes of employees of the independent news agency BelaPAN. The search at correspondent Zakhar Shcherbakov’s home lasted approximately 2 hours: employees of the Department for Combating Economic Crime seized the journalist’s laptop, phone and flash drives. The search warrant cited a criminal case relating to mass riots and gross violations of public order (342 of the Criminal Code). Shcherbakov was taken to the Beltelecom office on Zakharova Street, where the BelaPAN server was seized. The journalist was interrogated at the department of the Investigative Committee and eventually released, having been made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.