Former employee of the Investigative Committee of Belarus Andrei Ostapovich was detained at the Rizhskaya hotel in Pskov. This is stated on Twitter of the edition “Pskov Gubernia” on August 22.
According to Ostapovich’s lawyer Vyacheslav Golovin, he crossed the border in the Smolensk region and arrived in Moscow, where he came to the attention of the special services. The lawyer fears that documents for Ostapovich’s extradition will come in the near future, and he will be transferred to the Republic of Belarus.
“Due to the fact that in his report he said that such a regime should be overthrown, he will have big problems in the Republic of Belarus,” the message says.
According to the lawyer, the reason for extradition may be illegal border crossing – for example, due to coronavirus.
Tut.by reported that Andrei Ostapovich posted on his Instagram page a photo of a resignation report from the position of a senior investigator of the Partizansky District Department of the Investigative Committee due to “violations of its conditions by the leadership of the Investigative Committee.” His post “Let’s drive out the dictator and lawlessness with him!” was later removed.
In this post, he also wrote that according to the Constitution “everyone is equal before the law and has the right, without any discrimination, to equal protection of rights and legitimate interests.”
The man argued that many criminal cases due to resistance to law enforcement officers, which were opened due to recent events, were opened unreasonably, “without the availability of reliable evidence or on falsified evidence, false testimony.” In addition, he said that he believed that the police would “take the side of the people, protect them en masse,” but this did not happen and he would no longer “participate in the concealment of crimes” and carry out “criminal orders”. He also admitted to participating in rallies.
According to Ostapovich’s friends, he tried to leave through Russia to Latvia.
Earlier on August 22, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said at a rally in his support in Grodno that the instigators of the riots in the republic are located near Warsaw and Vilnius. He added that from the West they openly interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus, and the country’s troops should be on the borders of the republic to ensure the country’s security, and instead they are forced to ensure “law and order” “in the squares.”
Protests in Belarus have been held since August 9 after the announcement of the results of the presidential elections in Belarus. According to the CEC, incumbent head of state Alexander Lukashenko won with 80.1% of the vote. Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya took second place, gaining about 10%.
The opposition expressed dissatisfaction with the election results; clashes with the police began in the country. The protesters are demanding new elections. A number of large enterprises went on strike.