Head of independent Belarusian news agency dies at 52: report

In June, Belarusian security services launched a slander campaign against Lipai, accusing him of financial fraud and tax evasion, the fronda.pl website reported, citing Poland’s Kresy24.pl and Belarus’ naviny.by websites.

Lipai was the first victim of a wave of pressure on independent media outlets in Belarus, fronda.pl said.

It added that officers from Belarus’ Investigative Committee on August 7 entered the editorial offices of BelaPAN and the TUT.by news organisation. They detained 18 journalists and conducted a daylong search during which they confiscated computer equipment, according to fronda.pl.

A day later the Investigative Committee carried out more detentions and searches, fronda.pl said.

Lipai was the founder and editor-in-chief of BelaPAN, which is the largest independent news agency in Belarus, in operation since 1991, according to fronda.pl.

He was also the owner of the Belorusskie Novosti online newspaper, which is an important, freely available source of news about Belarus, fronda.pl said.

(gs)

Source: fronda.pl