Lithuania Grants Belarusian Opposition Journalist Asylum

Natallya Radzina

Belarusian journalist Natallya Radzina has been granted asylum in neighboring Lithuania.

Radzina told the AFP news agency that she was informed of the decision on September 7. Radzina said she would like to come back to Belarus, "but can only do so when the situation changes."

Radzina, editor of the Charter97.org website, asked for asylum a month ago.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis asked the migration department to agree to the request, hailing Charter97 as a standard-bearer for democratic change in Belarus.

Radzina was arrested after the presidential election in December 2010 and imprisoned in Minsk before she later managed to flee to Moscow after being released on bail.

compiled from agency reports