Two Incidents with Polish Journalists in Belarus

On 6 August Belarusian authorities deported Adam Tuchlinski, photo correspondent of Przekroj and Newsweek magazines and didn’t let the TV journalist Marcin Smialowski into Belarus. Mr. Tuchlinski was deported from Belarus for alleged absence of accreditation. He was detained by two policemen in plain clothes who pulled him into ordinary car. He was very surprised at it and said it looked like a gang assault and one couldn’t even talk of any legality of such actions. Mr. Tuchlinski stated he had come to Belarus on tourist visa and made photos in public places, which is not banned by the law, but Belarusian police paid no attention to his explanations.

The same day the Polish journalist Marcin Smialowski wasn’t let into Belarus though he had visa and accreditation. Belarusian border guards detained him for several hours and then stated his presence in Belarus was undesirable and told him to return to Poland.