Searches came to employees of the Belarusian human rights center Viasna

Searches of employees of the Viasna human rights center are underway in Belarus. About it reported in the organization’s Telegram channel.

They came with searches, in particular, to the center’s lawyer Vladimir Labkovich and human rights activist Valentin Stefanovich.

The Vesna Telegram channel also says that at about 9 am employees of the Financial Investigation Department came to search the Grodno human rights activist Viktor Sazonov.

In the spring of this year, the Office of the Investigative Committee for the Investigation of Crimes in the Sphere of Corruption and Organized Crime opened a criminal case against the Viasna center under Art. 342 of the Criminal Code (organization and active participation in group actions that grossly violate public order). “According to the official comments of the Investigative Committee, according to investigative bodies, HRC Viasna allegedly provides funding and other material support to illegal mass events aimed at group actions that grossly violate public order,” human rights activists reported.

The KGB of Belarus announced earlier that they were conducting a large-scale operation in the republic “to cleanse radicals from people”. Last week, more than two dozen searches were carried out in the offices of Nasha Niva, Brestskaya Gazeta, Intex-Press, Medyya-Palesse, Inform-Promenade, and Gantsavitski Chas.