Tuesday, June 1st, 2021
“Desperate Act” in Belarus
Oppositionist stabs his neck in court
The Belarusian oppositionist Latypov wants to kill himself in the dock because he has been mistreated and is afraid for the welfare of his family. Meanwhile, a reporter from Deutsche Welle is released after 20 days in prison and reports on inhumane conditions.
The Belarusian oppositionist Stepan Latypov tried to kill himself in the courtroom. After questioning his father, Latypov climbed onto the bench in his prosecution cage and stabbed his throat with a pen until he lost consciousness, the Belarusian human rights organization Vyasna reported. He was taken to the hospital. On the other hand, a correspondent for Deutsche Welle (DW) is free again after 20 days in prison. Meanwhile, the regime is making it more and more difficult for its citizens to leave the country.
The 41-year-old had previously reported to his father that he had been threatened with legal action against his relatives if he did not plead guilty, Wjasna reported. Latypow appeared in court with injuries.
Like many Belarusians, Latypov was involved in the protests against ruler Alexander Lukashenkov last year. He was arrested near his apartment block in Minsk in September and faces a number of charges, including resisting police arrest and making symbols of protest.
The opposition politician and former presidential candidate Andrei Sannikow, who lives in exile in Poland, spoke on Twitter of an act of “desperation” by the 41-year-old. Latypov had been “beaten and tortured for a long time,” he said, adding: “further evidence of the murderous nature of Lukashenko’s regime”.
Lukashenko tightens exit rules
After the presidential election last August, which was overshadowed by massive allegations of fraud, there were unprecedented mass protests in Belarus, which Lukashenko had put down. Thousands of demonstrators were arrested and opposition leaders had to go into exile. According to Vyasna, 449 political prisoners are currently being held in Belarus.
A correspondent for Deutsche Welle (DW) has been released after 20 days in detention. After his release, Alexander Burakov complained about inhumane prison conditions, according to a DW report. He was woken up twice a night and had to strip naked. In addition, he received neither a pillow nor a blanket and was often frozen. He had to end a hunger strike after seven days because of health problems. Burakov was arrested in May in the city of Mogilev, east of the capital Minsk, when he was about to report on a trial against opposition politicians.
Several leading opposition figures had fled abroad in recent months in view of the rigorous actions of the authorities and security forces against government critics, some of them secretly by land. Belarus has now tightened the restrictions on the departure of its citizens. In future, only those citizens will be allowed to leave the country by land who can prove that they have a permanent residence permit in another state, as the Belarusian border guard announced via Telegram.
EU prepares sanctions
Departure by plane is generally allowed. However, flight destinations have recently become severely limited as the EU imposed take-off and landing bans on Belarusian airlines in response to the arrest of government critic Roman Protassevich. According to diplomats, the European Union is preparing further sanctions against the state-owned Belarusian airline and representatives of the government, the military and aviation. Landing bans and asset freezes are on the table, said three diplomats from Reuters who are familiar with the matter. “All EU countries agree with this approach,” said a diplomat. The EU ambassadors could approve the proposal on Friday before the foreign ministers of the member states finally give the go-ahead.
The journalist Protassevich and his partner were arrested after their Ryanair flight was forced to make a stopover in the Belarusian capital Minsk en route from Athens to Vilnius.
The Belarusian opposition denounced the exit restrictions that have now been imposed as an “absolute breach of the law”. The country’s constitution does not specify any conditions for leaving the country by land, wrote Valery Kowalewski, the foreign policy advisor to opposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya, on Twitter. Tichanowskaja lives in exile in Lithuania.
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