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Narodnaya Volya editor finds threatening card in mailbox

Svyatlana Kalinkina, editor of the pro-opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya, found a threatening postcard in her mailbox on Sunday.

The anonymous card carried the logotype of the “Tell the Truth!” campaign. It read, “Kalinkina is a mean stinker. Tell the truth about yourself. Live and fear. A hunt for betrayers has begun.”

“This card had no mail stamp, which means that some unknown people dropped it into the box,” Ms. Kalinkina commented to BelaPAN.

“My most recent story that could spark such a response was about circumstances surrounding the death of journalist Aleh Byabenin. It came out under the headline ‘Noose.’ Perhaps, my arguments hit someone’s nerve.”

Ms. Kalinkina said that she would not complain to police. “Applying to them with the ‘Tell the Truth!’ postcard will subject to abuse people who could never threaten me. I would trigger only new reprisals against activists of the ‘Tell the Truth!’ campaign, while it is obvious that it is not them who want to intimidate me. This is on the contrary an attempt to set up the people.”

“I view the threats as directed against not only me but the entire journalistic community,” Ms. Kalinkina said. "Someone wants very much to create an atmosphere of fear and distrust in the country ahead of the presidential election.”