Vitsebsk police detain pregnant journalist

Vitsebsk police keep harassing the staff of local independent newspaper Vitsebski Kurier, as the weekly’s reporter Yulia Kanapliova was detained by road police on 20 May.

The pregnant journalist’s car was stopped and she was taken to the police station without any explanations.

As a result, eight copies of the Pol Palityki (“Politics Gender”) and 200 copies of comics on local self-government were seized by the police.

Mrs. Kanapliova was charged with illegal distribution of printed media (Par. 2 Art. 29 of the Administrative Code), despite the fact that the seized materials cannot be considered as mass media editions.