DW journalist Paulyuk Bykowski arrested in Belarus

EUROPE-Wednesday 8 August 2018

It is not yet clear why Paulyuk Bykowski, who works for Deutsche Welle's Russian service, was taken into custody. DW has lodged a protest with the Belarusian ambassador in Berlin.

Authorities on Wednesday arrested Deutsche Welle journalist Paulyuk Bykowski in the Belarusian capital Minsk.

The reason behind the arrest was not immediately known.

"The investigating committee came to me," Bykowski, who works for DW's Russian service, wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday morning.

His wife, Volha Bykovskaya, later confirmed to DW that a search team took away computer, tablets, phones, pen drives, discs and bank cards from their apartment. "The search took about two hours," she said.

DW lodged a protest with the Belarusian ambassador in Berlin and demanded his immediate release. It stressed that the rule of law must apply to accredited journalists.

President Alexander Lukashenko's government has been cracking down on independent journalists

Crackdown on journalists

The arrest follows detention of at least four journalists from two popular news sites on Tuesday. The journalists are accused of unlawfully accessing news from state news agency BeITA.

Bykowski has denied reading the agency's reports in a long time.

His wife said she suspected the charges were a facade to crackdown on independent journalists in Belarus.

Germany's foreign ministry called on Minsk to respect press freedom and refrain from disproportionate actions against journalists.

"The German government advocates for protection of the basic principles of freedom of the media and opinion," a ministry spokesman said in a statement.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the detention of journalists in Belarus.

"The highly disproportionate measures taken by law enforcement against two independent news agencies raises serious concern about the respect for the independent media in Belarus," Desir said in a statement.

Intimidation of the media

The ex-Soviet country led by strongman Alexander Lukashenko has escalated its crackdown on journalists since major anti-government protests last year.

More than 100 journalists were arrested in 2017, usually while covering opposition protests, Reporters Without Borders said.

"These raids, which compromise the confidentiality of journalistic sources, are out of all proportion to the charges," said Johann Bihr, the head of Reporter Without Border's Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.

"It is hard to see them as anything other that attempts to intimidate leading independent media outlets at a time of growing harassment of critical journalists."