Australian TV journalist detained in Belarus

Published Sept. 22, 2012 at 11:06 am

Belarus plainclothes security officers detain an opposition activist Paavel Vinogradov, during a protest in Minsk, Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012. Associated Press photographer Sergei Grtts was beaten and briefly detained by plainclothes security officers in the Belarusian capital. Sergei Grits says he was among eight journalists covering a protest by four opposition activists calling for a boycott of this weekend's parliamentary elections when plainclothes security officers attacked them in downtown Minsk.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

Photo by AP

MINSK, Belarus (AP) — An Australian television journalist has been detained at Minsk airport as he prepared to leave Belarus.

The detention was reported by a representative of the Belarusian Association of Journalists, who said Amos Roberts of Australian SBS TV had called him from the airport.

The representative, Ilya Kuznetsov, said border guards had confiscated the journalist’s television camera, computer and all the material he had gathered during a week of reporting before Sunday’s parliamentary election in Belarus, where an authoritarian president has little tolerance for independent media.

The border guards refused to comment.

Kuznetsov said the detention prevented Roberts from flying to Warsaw on Friday afternoon and he would be unable to leave Belarus until Saturday at the earliest. It was not yet known whether his equipment would be returned.