US state media reporter arrested in Belarus

A journalist working with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been placed in a detention center for ten days

Igor Karnei, a Belarusian journalist working with the US state-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) outlet, was arrested in the capital city of Minsk on Monday. The development was first announced by his daughter, Polina, on social media.

“My father Igor Karnei was put in detention for ten days, he’s in Okrestina [pre-trial detention center]. The home was searched,” she wrote on Facebook.

It was not immediately clear why the journalist was targeted by the authorities and what potential charges he faces. The country’s law enforcement has not provided any public explanation on the arrest yet.

However, RFE/RL has been outlawed in Belarus and labeled an extremist organization. Therefore, working with the US-funded outlet or spreading its content is a criminal offense, punishable by up to seven years in jail. The journalist has been working with the Belarusian and Russian services of the outlet since the early 2000s, but hasn’t been using his byline in recent years.

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Karnei’s daughter told the Associated Press that the police had seized phones and computers during the raid of her father’s home.

The arrest has been condemned by Belarus’ oldest and arguably most influential human rights group Viasna. The NGO alleged the journalist was refused to access his legal team or relatives, saying that the Okrestina detention facility has allegedly had a particularly bad reputation for harsh conditions and the torture of inmates.

Karnei had repeatedly run into legal trouble in Belarus prior to the new arrest. For instance, the journalist had spent ten days in detention back in 2020 amid the turmoil that followed the country’s presidential election. Back then, the reporter was charged with taking part in an unauthorized rally.