Watchdog

The 88-year-old father of a jailed Belarusian opposition leader has received a threatening letter that he says is government pressure on his son.

Viktar Statkevich, the father of former presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich, told RFE/RL that he found a Russian patriotic symbol called a St. George ribbon affixed to the gate of his house in the western city of Baranavichy on September 8.

He then found a letter in his mailbox addressed, in Russian, to "the slaves of the CIA, dirty offenders the Statkeviches."

It said it was from "the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant" and also included the words "Allah Akbar!" (God is great).

Human rights activist Syarhey Housha called for an investigation and said he shared Stakevich's belief that the letter was a form of pressure on his son.

Mikalay Statkevich is serving a six-year prison term for "organizing mass disturbances" following authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's reelection in December 2010.

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Police in Crimea have briefly detained a well-known blogger who has strongly criticized Russia's annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.

Yelizaveta Bohutskaya, who has been a contributor to RFE/RL's Crimean desk under the name Liza Bohutski, was detained during a search of her home on September 8 and released later in the day.

She told RFE/RL that the apartment she shares wih her husband in Simferopol had been searched by police accompanied by security troops with assault rifles.

Police questioned Bohutskaya about her participation in greeting the leader of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, near the administrative boundary between Crimea and continental Ukraine in May.

Russia has barred Dzhemilev from Crimea and about 100 people who greeted him in May are being investigated.

Bohutskaya added that police said to her that her blogs and on-line articles are anti-Russian and might be considered extremist.