BNS: Czech Republic also gave out info on Byalyatski to Minsk

It has been informed by Baltic News Service news agency.

The Czech Republic was also among the countries which gave out to the authorities in Minsk the details of Ales Byalyatski’s bank accounts, Polish Radio informs with a reference to Baltic News Service.

“Representatives of two Lithuanian institutions have confirmed to BNS journalists that according to them, the Czech Republic also offered bank details of Byalyatski to Belarus,” the Lithuanian agency informs. Prague has not confirmed this information yet, BNS notes.

Ales Byalyatski, head of Vyasna human rights centre, was arrested last week on tax evasion charges. Vyasna explained that the Belarusian authorities call “income” the money on a bank account in Lithuania used for human rights protection activities. The information about Byalyatski’s bank accounts had been provided to the Belarusian authorities by the Justice Ministry of Lithuania.

The Lithuanian authorities have offered their apologies to the family of the arrested human rights defender and set up a commission to investigate the incident.

On Thursday it was reported that the General Prosecutor’s Office of Poland has also given out bank account details of Ales Byalyatski to Belarusian officials.

The Belarusian authorities state that the human rights activist had been hiding more than 1 billion rubles in a Lithuanian bank. He faces up to 7 years’ imprisonment and confiscation of property for that.