Speech of democrat from Babruisk wasn't aired

A pre-election speech of a parliamentary candidate, who called to boycott the “election”, was not shown on television in Babruisk.

Two rivals of Matvei Khatary, a UCP candidate in Babruiski-Leninski constituency No. 78, appeared on TV, but Belarus-2 TV channel showed a report about improvements in Babruisk during the time allotted to the democratic candidate, Radio Svaboda reports.

In his speech Matvei Khatary called on voters to boycott the “elections” to the “house of representatives”.

“I was warned on TV and radio that my speech would have to pass censorship in the election commission. But a radio staff member said it definitely would not pass. I expected it, but I hoped they would edit the footage. My speech was very short, it contained only theses. I told the unvarnished truth in every sentence. They did not find a phrase they could leave,” Khatari said.