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KGB raids office shared by Belarusian PEN Center and private weekly Nasha Niva

KGB officers raided the office of the Belarusian PEN Center and the private weekly Nasha Niva in downtown Minsk on Tuesday evening.

The officers, dressed in plain clothes, began knocking at the office door at about 6:50 p.m., said the Nasha Niva website. Journalist Dzmitry Pankavets refused to let them in and phoned Andrey Skurko, deputy chairman of the Belarusian PEN Center and editor in chief of Nasha Niva. A subsequent power cut left the office without electricity until the arrival of Mr. Skurko.

The five plainclothesmen followed him into the office, telling journalists to stay outside. "According to the officers, they were looking for photographic and video evidence of state symbols being dishonored during the December 19 post-election demonstration in Minsk," Mr. Skurko told BelaPAN.

It later became known that his home was raided in his absence.

Opposition presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, who was arrested over the demonstration, is honorary chairman of the Belarusian PEN Center. //BelaPAN