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Latvia lodges protest over search of diplomat's residence in Minsk

A delegation of the Latvian foreign ministry will arrive in Minsk on July 26 to investigate the search of a Latvian diplomat's apartment, Atis Lots, spokesman for the ministry, told BelaPAN.

According to the Latvian embassy in Minsk, Belarus' law-enforcement and security officers got into the diplomat's apartment at 3 a.m. on July 25 and made a search, seizing the diplomat's personal belongings.

As Mr. Lots said, when the second secretary of the embassy returned home at 3 p.m., he was being awaited by men who said that they were officers of Belarusian law-enforcement and security agencies, entered the apartment together with him and made a search, which resulted in the seizure of the diplomat's personal videocassettes. According to Mr. Lots, this was the first such incident with a Latvian diplomat abroad.

Mr. Lots noted that the sending of a mission to investigate an incident is a common diplomatic practice. With the help of the mission, the Latvian foreign ministry hopes to find out what items were seized, which agency the searching officers represented and what grounds they had for the search.

Mr. Lots expressed hope that Belarusian authorities would provide the details of the incident and answer the Latvian foreign ministry's note.