Affiliated media: «Klimavitskaya Staronka», VKontakte group

Incident date: March 19, 2021

Attack type:

• Breaking into email / social media accounts / computer / smartphone

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Belarusian Association of Journalists

Location: Belarus, Klimavichy

Additional information:

Siarhei Arzhantsau was detained near his home by police officers. His flat was searched as part of a criminal case against a local Telegram channel — they ransacked it, but did not seize anything. The journalist’s smartphone was taken away and examined, and he was also forced to turn on his computer and show the information stored on it. After that, Arzhantsau was warned in writing about criminal liability for extremist activity. According to Siarhei, after the search, he was forced to shut down the group «Klimavitskaya Staronka» with 1,700 subscribers in VKontakte. As law enforcement officers gained access to this page, photo albums and post started to disappear from there, the list of subscribers was also deleted, etc.