Prague, March 22 (CTK) - The Czech Foreign Ministry has officially protested against a brutal attack on Czech reporter Jan Rybar from the daily Mlada fronta Dnes in the centre of Belarussian capital Minsk last Sunday night, the ministry press section informed CTK today.
The Czech Republic asked the Belarussian authorities to investigate the incident as soon as possible.
The Czech Foreign Ministry submitted the protest note to the Belarussian Foreign Ministry via the Czech diplomatic mission in Minsk.
The EU countries´ ambassadors in Minsk have condemned the attack on the Czech reporter.
Today´s issue of the daily Mlada fronta Dnes reported about Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda´s indignation at the incident.
"Given the circumstances in which Jan Rybar was attacked I consider the incident very serious. I will wait for a report from Ambassador Vladimir Ruml, but I can tell now already that we will express our protest to Belarus," Svoboda told Mlada fronta Dnes.
Previously Rybar told CTK that he believed that he was beaten up by Belarussian secret police KGB agents, but had no direct proof for his allegation.
"They kicked me in the head and took my computer away," Rybar said.
Ruml said he also believes that the KGB was behind the incident. He informed the Latvian ambassador about the attack because she represents in Belarus Austria that holds the EU rotating presidency.
"The EU ambassadors are concerned about the attack on reporter Rybar. The Latvian ambassador has immediately informed Brussels about this very unusual attack," Ruml told the daily.
According to Ruml, the fact that the attackers showed no interest in money that Rybar could have on him and that the first thing they shouted at him was to ask him where he had his passport also supports the variant that Rybar was beaten up, robbed of his laptop and a cell telephone by the Belarussian secret police.
"I cannot imagine any gangsters asking for the identity of their victim," Ruml told the paper.
He says that the version involving the KGB was also supported by the fact that it is possible to obtain information on Rybar´s journalistic contacts from his laptop. It is also very suspicious that the attack took place at the time of the demonstration and near it.
"Thieves would have never dared attacking a reporter in the direct vicinity of hundreds of secret and uniformed policemen who were watching the demonstrators protesting against the election victory of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko," Ruml told Mlada fronta Dnes.
Belarussian charge d´affaires in Prague Mikhalai Barysevich is dealing with the attack on the reporter. He told Mlada fronta Dnes that Belarus regretted the incident.
"The robbery of your reporter is the single similar incident involving a foreign journalist that occurred during the elections," Barysevich told the paper.
He declined to speculate on the involvement of the secret services in the attack on Rybar.
