Investigative Committee arrested the bank account of the Belarusian Association of Journalists

The bank account of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) was arrested, reported on the organization’s website.

The account was arrested on the basis of the decision of the Investigative Committee of Belarus dated July 14, 2021.

“Not only payments are frozen, but also the possibility of replenishing the account,” – said in a message published in the Association’s Telegram channel.

On July 14, searches were carried out in the Belarusian Association of Journalists and the apartments of its leaders, the entrance door of the association is currently sealed. In addition to the BAJ, the security forces visited the offices of 23 more organizations.

Searches took place not only in Minsk, but also in Grodno, Brest, Orsha, Borisov, Gomel, Polotsk. Prior to this, the Belarusian authorities banned access to one of the country’s oldest news resources, the website of the Nasha Niva newspaper.

Yesterday was frozen the account of the Belarusian PEN Center, which is headed by the Nobel laureate, member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council of the opposition Svetlana Aleksievich, as well as the account of the Imena charitable organization. Now she can not make payments, including transferring funds raised to projects for their work.

In addition, according to the BAJ, the Belarusian security forces carried out more than 60 searches in the media and their employees in less than two weeks.

As the representatives of the association reported, 34 journalists are now in custody. So, on Sunday, it became known about the re-arrest of Yegor Martinovich, editor-in-chief of the Nasha Niva newspaper, who was charged yesterday with causing property damage (part 2 of article 216 of the Criminal Code).