English

Journalist briefly detained in Mahilyow

Ales Asiptsow, a freelance journalist who cooperates with BelaPAN and some other media outlets, was briefly detained in Mahilyow on Tuesday for interviewing employees of AAT Mahilyowkhimvalakno, a chemical company in Mahilyow, near its main entrance checkpoint.

"My editors told me to talk to people entering and leaving the plant as well as managers of Mahilyowkhimvalakno and ask them about only media reports that pro-government trade unions had urged the company to raise the wages of its employees," Mr. Asiptsow told BelaPAN. "After a while, I was approached by a man who introduced himself as a representative of the company`s ideology department and ordered me to follow him. He took me to a room where a police officer was waiting for me. He told me that making photographs or carrying out polls on the premises of Mahilyowkhimvalakno was prohibited, and that the wages of its staff were a commercial secret."

Mr. Asiptsow was released without a charge at about 1:10 p.m. after he provided a written account of the incident. //BelaPAN