Vasilevich washing his hands of

• 11.04.2008, 15:02

General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Belarus readdressed appeal of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) to the prosecutor’s office of Minsk. It was said in the letter, the BAJ received 10 April from Prosecutor’s General Ryhor Vasilevich in reply to their recent appeal in the context of searches in journalists’ apartments.

On the demand of the BAJ to take legally provided steps to stop persecution of journalists, the Prosecutor General replied only the appeal had been readdressed to prosecutor’s office of Minsk for “organisation of trial on the merits.”

“This reply is logical. In this case one can say that decision on our request was postponed,” Mikhail Pastukhou, head of the BAJ Media Protection Center, said, having learnt the letter.

According to him, BAJ lawyers have their own opinion on legality and well-foundedness of searches in journalists’ apartments. “We don’t make it public yet not to obtrude it upon prosecutors. We are waiting they hold verification on our request and give a reasonable answer,” Mikhail Pastukhou noted.