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Belarusian KGB detains journalists, searches offices and apartment in major sweep

The Associated Press

MINSK, Belarus

Belarusian security agents detained more than a dozen journalists and searched apartments and offices for materials that allegedly libel authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, activists said Thursday.

A Polish-funded radio broadcaster said 20 of its Belarusian employees had been detained. The Belarusian Journalists' Association, meanwhile, counted at least 16 who have been summoned for questioning by the KGB, the country's top security agency, or had their apartments searched.

The nationwide raids follow a protest by opposition and other activists earlier this week in the capital, Minsk, in defiance of a government ban on marking a historical holiday. Dozens were arrested.

KGB agents raided two radio stations offices of Radio Racja and European Radio in Minsk, and private apartments throughout the country, association chief Zhanna Litvina said. The two radio stations receive funding from the European Union. Correspondents affiliated with U.S.-funded Radio Liberty were also detained.

"This reminds us more of Stalin's time, not Europe in the 21st Century," Racja reporter Yulia Kotskaya said.

Litvina said the searches appeared to have been ordered in retaliation for the coverage of Tuesday's protest, when thousands marked the holiday that the opposition has traditionally called Freedom Day. The March 25 holiday marks the anniversary of the 1918 declaration of the first, short-lived independent Belarusian state.

At least 20 people, including two Belarusian reporters, have been convicted of participating in an unsanctioned meeting and sentenced to up to 15 days in jail. Nearly two dozen others were slapped with hefty fines.

In Poland, Agnieszka Romaszewska, who heads the government-funded Belsat TV company that broadcasts Belarusian-language programs, said about 20 journalists, mainly with Belsat, were detained Thursday and broadcasting equipment confiscated.

KGB officials refused to comment on the searches. Deputy Prosecutor General Alexei Stuk said investigators were looking for materials related to animated cartoons that were circulating on the Internet and that were broadcast on Belsat. Libeling the president in Belarus is punishable by up to four years in jail.

"The investigation is looking into whether journalists are cooperating with the creators of the cartoons that insulted Lukashenko," Stuk said.

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, said the searches were conducted only for journalists deemed to be working illegally in Belarus. Radio Racja, European Radio and Belsat had all been denied government accreditation.

"The illegal character of these individuals' activities in Belarus has never been hidden by their foreign owners," ministry spokeswoman Maria Vanshina said in statement.

Lukashenko, dubbed Europe's last dictator by Western governments, has ruled the ex-Soviet republic since 1994.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Thursday expressed "deepest possible anxiety" about the situation, adding: "The events in Belarus are not a return to previous situation, but rather it's worsening."

European Union officials, meanwhile, criticized the arrests and called on government authorities there to respect media freedoms.

"The use of violence by Belarusian authorities against peaceful demonstrators and the harassment of independent journalists is a contradiction to the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression," European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said in a statement.

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