Belarus human rights watchdogs declare Lukashenko's rival political prisoner

Belarus human rights watchdogs declare Lukashenko's rival political prisoner
A group of Belarusian human rights watchdogs have declared detained opposition candidate for president Viktor Babariko a political prisoner / wiki
By bne IntelliNews June 20, 2020

A group of Belarusian human rights watchdogs have declared detained opposition candidate for president Viktor Babariko, an outspoken critic of Belarusian authoritarian President Alexandr Lukashenko, a political prisoner.

On June 19, nine Belarusian human rights organisations described Babariko's detention earlier this week as the "continuation of a wave of repression" that started in the country right after the parliament announced the August presidential election.

Babariko's son and the head of his election team, Eduard, has also been detained on June 18. He was also declared a political prisoner.

On June 18, Babariko was taken in for questioning by officers of the Department for Financial Investigations at Belarusian State Control Committee (SCC). Later the same day, the SCC confirmed his detention over the investigation of his "illegal [financial] activities".

According to the SCC, a number of employees of Belgazprombank have also been arrested, and some of the suspects have allegedly "confessed" that they had illegally transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to Latvia via a scheme organised by Babariko.

Babariko collected 425,000 ballot signatures as of June 18, which is a record-high number for Lukashenko's rivals over the past two and a half decades. The necessary minimum is 100,000 signatures.

 

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