Updated at 17:53,27-03-2024

Police search Belarusian activists' homes for 'pornography'

RFE/RL

Belarusian police have searched apartments linked to members of the opposition Malady Front (Youth Front).

Police in the central city of Salihorsk searched the apartments of activist Andrus Tychyna and Uladzimer Shyla, the father of two Malady Front members, on September 16.

Shyla said police told apartment owners that the searches were linked to investigations into Internet pornography.

He told RFE/RL that police confiscated a computer disc drive and modem from his apartment and told him they were looking for evidence supporting suspicions that Tychyna had distributed pornography via a social network.

Several days ago, police summoned Tychyna and questioned him about the appearance in downtown Salihorsk of a 15-meter-long historic national flag.

The white-red-white flag is banned in Belarus, whose longtime president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, displays nostalgia for the Soviet Union.