Exiled journalist accused of extremism in Belarus

November 28, Pozirk. Belarusian authorities have filed extremism charges against Belarusian journalist Iryna Chalip, who works for Russia’s exiled Novaya Gazeta Europe, novayagazeta.eu reports.

Chalip said that yesterday, law enforcers searched the home of her parents in Minsk based on a warrant that mentioned criminal charges. Policemen also interrogated her mother, trying to find out the journalist’s whereabouts and her phone number.

Chalip interpreted the incident as a threat linked to her professional activities. “Dictatorial regimes around the world like to send signals like this,” she said. “It is wrong to assume that someone who has managed to flee the country is out of reach. Those who leave loved ones behind remain vulnerable, knowing they cannot protect their relatives from persecution.”

Belarusian authorities had persecuted Chalip on political grounds after her husband Andrej Sannikaŭ ran for president in the 2010 election. In 2011, she was given a two-year suspended prison sentence for her alleged role in the postelection protests.

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