KGB announced the arrests of Fiaduta, Kastusiou and Ziankovich; Belarusian authorities claimed that Poland had violated Belarus’ airspace, Poland denies everything; Hrodna Azot’s German partner will not buy its products
13 April 2021 | Voice of Belarus
KGB announced the arrests of Fiaduta, Kastusiou and Ziankovich
Ryhor Kastusiou, the head of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) party, was detained by KGB officers as a part of the criminal investigation under Article 342 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus – “Organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order.” The house of Dzmitry Antonchyk, Kastusiou’s son-in-law, was searched.
Today it also became known that political scientist Aliaksandr Fiaduta, who had gone missing in Moscow the day before, was detained by the Belarusian KGB. Apparently, he was extradited from Moscow and put into custody of the Belarusian special service.
American lawyer, ex-deputy and member of the Belarusian Popular Front Youras Ziankovich was kidnapped by unknown people in Moscow. Now he is in the KGB pre-trial detention center.
According to his wife, the lawyer went on a business trip, but was detained in Moscow on 11 April. In fact, he was kidnapped from the hotel.
Ziankovich has dual Belarusian and US citizenship. Youras Ziankovich often visits Belarus. On 9 August 2020 he took part in a protest in Miadzel and was later sentenced to ten days of administrative arrest. While serving his sentence, he went on a hunger strike.
Belarusian authorities claim that Poland violated the airspace of Belarus, Poland denies the allegations
The Ministry of Defense of Belarus claimed that an unknown aircraft had violated the state border of Belarus from the direction of Poland. It happened on 12 April 2021 at 8:45 pm. The aircraft then returned to the Polish territory.
Poland said that their military aircrafts hadn’t been flying near the state border between Poland and Belarus at that time.
The Ministry of Health banned Nivea in Belarus
The sanitary epidemiological service has found violations in the documents certifying quality and safety of the brand’s products. Expiration date policy violations and issues with labeling were detected.
In January Nivea was the first company to refuse to sponsor the 2021 World Ice Hockey Championship, which was slated to be held in Belarus. Soon, Skoda made a similar decision, which led to certain problems: the sales of the brand’s Rapid model in Belarus were stopped on 11 March 2021.
Belarusian swimmer Aliaksandra Herasimenia sold her gold medal at an online auction to help Belarusian protesters
Aliaksandra Herasimenia sold her 2012 World Championship gold medal at an online auction. The lot was bought for $16,100. The athlete will transfer the money to the Belarusian Sports Solidarity Fund.
Last week, the Belarusian authorities opened a criminal case against Aliaksandra.
Hrodna Azot’s German partner decided not to continue cooperation between the enterprises
Hrodna Azot strike committee reports that German company Helm AG decided not to cooperate with Hrodna Azot after it had received a letter with a detailed description of the violations of the workers’ rights at the plant. Helm AG is the buyer of 10% of the annual production volume of Hrodna Azot.
A play based on Svetlana Alexievich’s book has been canceled
The play “Chernobyl Prayer” based on the book of Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich was replaced with another play without any explanation at the Republican Theatre of Belarusian Drama. The play was to be performed on 26 April, the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.