IIHF doubts the data that Belarus reports on COVID-19; participants of the All Belarusian People’s Assembly will be included in the sanctions lists; the regime continues to fire, prosecute, and intimidate those in disagreement with it
9 January 2021 | BYHelp-Mediagroup
Source: TUT.BY
Participants of the All Belarusian People’s Assembly will be included in the sanctions lists
The National Anti-Crisis Management under the leadership of Pavel Latushka, a member of the Presidium of the Coordination Council, will begin adding delegates of the All Belarusian People’s Assembly to the sanctions lists starting on 18 January. These people also will be included in The Unified Crime Registry.
The All Belarusian People’s Assembly is scheduled to be held on 11–12 February in Minsk. The total number of participants and invitees of the meeting is 2,700. It is stated that the participants are elected by local Councils of Representatives and the most numerous public organizations. However, judging by some of the already published lists, the participants of the All Belarusian People’s Assembly will be local officials, heads of enterprises and chairmen of election commissions, who contributed to the falsification of the elections.
IIHF Board Member: “We have doubts about the data that Belarus reports on the coronavirus”
The well-known Czech goalkeeper, member of the board of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Petr Břiza, commenting on the information about the possible transfer of the World Cup from Minsk, said that the IIHF receives information that casts doubt on the facts about the coronavirus in Belarus: “We have doubts about the relevance of the facts that Belarus reports on the coronavirus.”
Along with security issues, COVID-19 may be one of the reasons for the transfer of the tournament from Minsk. The representative of the Czech Ice Hockey Federation Zdenek Zikmund stated that they are currently awaiting the results of Fasel’s negotiations with the leadership of Belarus.
Source: TUT.BY
A pensioner was detained on her way from a cathedral and was fined for “twisting a white-red-white umbrella in her hands”
A Minsk pensioner was walking with a red and white umbrella after a service in a cathedral, and ended up at the police station.
These events took place on 3 January after the service of Tadeusz Kandrusewicz in the cathedral in the center of Minsk. On that day, the former head of the Catholic Church in Belarus was greeted on his 75th birthday, and it also became known that the Pope had accepted his resignation. Marya Ravutskaya was at this service, and at the end of it she went home.
She was walking with a red and white umbrella with a “Polska” inscription. “When Tadeusz Kandrusewicz was not allowed to enter Belarus, I began to take this umbrella everywhere,” says Ravutskaya. The woman says that soon after she left the cathedral she was detained by six security officers. “Later in court they said that I was shouting ‘Long live Belarus’ and held a picket.”
A black minibus took her to a police station. There, her personal belongings were confiscated – a wedding ring, a silver chain and a medallion with the image of the Mother of Jesus, and also the umbrella. She said she wasn’t allowed to call home – all this time her family worried, her daughter found out about her detention only in the morning on 4 January. On the same day, a trial took place, and the woman was fined 30 basic units, which is more than 270 euros.
“They said that if I do not pay the fine within a month, then all my personal belongings will be taken by the state. I will feel very sad: they are dear to me. But this amount is equal to two of my monthly pensions!” she sighs.
Source: TUT.BY
“They threatened to take my child”: tractor-blogger from Khoiniki asked for political asylum in Latvia
Yauhen Vasilkou lived, until recently, in the village of Vit in the Khoiniki region, and worked as a tractor driver. He became famous after a video in which he reflected on unfair elections from a villager’s point of view. On 3 August, he was arrested by the police for “disobedience”. Yauhen was sentenced to 10 days in prison, and later lost his job. He took part in some protests in Khoiniki and hosted the YouTube channels “Chronicles of a Mechanic” and “Khoiniki for Life”. In December 2020, the police accused Yauhen of “extremism” – he reposted materials from a telegram channel, which is officially recognized as extremist in Belarus, on the “Khoiniki for Life” YouTube channel.
Yauhen says he did not want to leave Belarus. “But I had no choice… I was threatened for filming videos about riots in the Khoiniki region. The policemen said that because of such actions they could take away the child we adopted because she is an orphan and she is not even five years old,” says Yauhen Vasilkou. In Latvia, the former tractor driver was supported by both the authorities and the Belarusian diaspora.
Source: Radio Svaboda
The coach of the Yunost hockey team who did not sign the pro-government letter of the athletes was fired
Alexander Makritsky left the position of the head coach of the Minsk hockey team Yunost. Formally, the contract was terminated by an agreement of both parties. But the journalists learned that Alexander Makritsky became the only coach of the Belarusian ice hockey championship who did not sign the athletes’ pro-government letter. Until recently Makritsky played for Lukashenko’s hockey team, he refused to comment.
Source: t.me/radiosvaboda
For more information on the events of 9 January 2021, please visit Infocenter Free Belarus 2020:
