Authorities in Belarus raided offices of an independent newspaper and detained three of its journalists Monday as part of a relentless crackdown on media outlets and civil society activists.
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Alyaksandr Mantsevich, the editor of the Regionalnaya Gazeta (Regional Newspaper), and journalists Zoya Khrutskaya and Nasta Utkina, were detained, said the Belarusian Association of Journalists, or BAJ.
They were taken into custody after the search of the newspaper's office in Maladzyechna, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
BAJ said that a total of 64 searches have been conducted over the last 10 days. Thirty-two journalists in total are in custody, either awaiting trial or serving their sentences.
"The authorities have turned life into hell for independent journalists in Belarus with a conveyor belt of searches and arrests," BAJ head Andrei Bastunets said. "There is an impression that the authorities have decided to leave the country without journalists."
