Opposition activist accuses Austrian-owned company of attempting to fire him on political motives

An opposition activist and former parliamentary candidate has accused the management of the Belarusian subsidiary of Austria’s Kapsch TrafficCom of attempting to fire him for his political activity.

In an interview with opposition news website charter97.org, Ilya Dabratvor said that he had recently been told by a manager to resign from his job or be dismissed for poor performance.

The father-of-five joined the company, which operates Belarus' sole electronic toll collection system, this past June. According to Mr. Dabratvor, he had not received any complaints about his performance before the company's managers launched a "campaign of pressure" targeting him about a month ago.

"I am constantly being followed, including with the help of other workers," he said. "I am prohibited from talking to other workers and can only say something to the head of the group. When I was hired the firm portrayed itself as a democratic European company, but this completely ceased to be the case weeks later."

Mr. Dabratvor said that he had been warned by a manager against engaging in politics.

A member of a group called Razam, Mr. Dabratvor ran for the House of Representatives in September 2012. He publicly spoke about vote rigging in the elections.

The activist has been sentenced to fines and jail terms for his political activity.