Searches in oppositionists’ flats continue

On June 13 the flat of a democratic activist from Brest Ivan Stasiuk was searched.

He lives in this apartment with his parents. Three policemen came there. They demonstrated the search warrant, as Ivan is a suspect in the case of the so-called arson of the House of Justice in Minsk. The search lasted from 4.30 p.m. to 5.10 p.m. The system unit of the computer, the flash card, was seized from the activist, the hard disc drive which had mechanical damage, 1,260 copies of leaflets with information that Alyaksandr Lukashenka had not won in the election on December 19.

“I think that the search is a pretext to seize my office equipment,” Stasiuk stated.

The activist was detained on June 4 overnight in Brest, when he was in a train on his way back from Poland. The KGB convoyed him from the railway station and questioned him in connection with his activities in social networks. The interrogation lasted for about 3 hours.

As said by Stasiuk, during the conversation he was threatened that pressure would be put on his relatives. On June 8 his mother was interrogated at the KGB. She said that she has good children, they are not involved in any illegal activities, and that she does not want to communicate with KGB officers on the topic of her sons, as she has a right not to give evidence against her family.

“Then she was told that I am inciting people to take part in protest rallies, and I can be bring to trial under Article 342 of the Criminal Code,” Stasiuk said.