Nasta Pilyugina, a blogger and host of the "dzigital" podcast, was detained in Minsk on the morning of July 29. She left her home around 11 a.m. and was carrying her laptop in her car. Sometime after her departure, she was presumably apprehended. The authorities searched her residence but shared no information regarding her location or where she was detained. CFWIJ condemns the unjustified detention of the blogger and demands the police release her. We continue to monitor the persecution of women journalists in Belarus.

Valeria Kostyugova, an independent analyst and editor of the Belarusian Yearbook, is in detention after authorities searched her residence on June 30. The case and charges against Valeria have yet to be confirmed. Her husband was eventually released, but she remains in custody at a detention center on Akrestsin Street. Reportedly, the raid on her apartment was carried out by KGB authorities (State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus). CFWIJ condemns the harassment against the journalist and demands state authorities release her from unwarranted detention. The impediments to the free press in Belarus are alarming. The current government must end its targeting of independent journalists and human rights activists.