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Deputy interior minister defends policemen's interference with reporters during street protests

Deputy Interior Minister Aleh Pyakarski on Tuesday defended policemen's interference with journalists' work during street protests and accused media outlets of misrepresenting the handling of such events in Belarus.

"Frankly speaking, any person facing a camera has the right to object to being filmed. Our officers also are not interested and willing to have their faces used in some news reports," he told reporters in Minsk.

"Unfortunately, they often create videos that are sent abroad and various TV networks later show mass riots and the actions of a specific person. And he has a family, children, this is watched by his relatives. Apart from this, certain media create videos to show how wrong police officers act here," the deputy minister said.

Mr. Pyakarski called for the introduction of rules governing the conduct of reporters at demonstrations.

The deputy minister confirmed reports that the brother of Dzmitry Pawlichenka, a police officer notorious for his role in violent dispersals of opposition demonstrations and suspected of the disappearance of Alyaksandr Lukashenka's opponents, was suspected of stealing narcotic drugs from a unit of the interior ministry's department of corrections.

He said that the investigation was conducted by the Committee for State Security.

According to the deputy minister, the man was arrested but released shortly afterward. He would not identify the man by name and would not say whether or not he was released on his own recognizance.

Mr. Pyakarski denied the existence of any dispute between the police and the Committee for State Security (KGB). "Moreover, we are grateful [to the KGB] to a certain extent as a look from outside, when KGB officers provide some advice or prevent some actions, influences the internal state of both agencies and ensures that there are only honest and conscientious staff among our ranks," he said. //BelaPAN