An officer of Maskouski police department of Brest is looking for Belsat TV contributor Ales Lyauchuk in order to conduct a so called preventive conversation with him.
“I don’t know what the conversation might be like, but I know that after such ‘conversations’ people were often locked up in a detention centres and remand prisones for many months. I haven’t been to Belarus since July and I do not fully understand what he is talking about,” Lyauchuk told Belsat.
Amid the post-election protests in October 2020, journalists Ales Lyauchuk and Milana Kharytonava were grabbed by the riot police in the centre of Brest. Milana spent three days in the detention centre; her husband was hospitalised. The police officers failed to explain to the media workers what they had violated and why they were detained.
Over the past year, the Brest-based crew has been detained at least three times, their equipment has been seized.
In July 2021, Lyauchuk, Kharytonava and their 13-year-old daughter went on vacation. When they were away, their and their relatives’ apartments were searched by the notorious GUBOPiK/GUBAZiK (Main Department for Combattiong Organised Crime and Corruption). Then the duo learned that they became defendants in a criminal case. In light of the information received, they decided not to return to Belarus. The Lyauchuk family hopes their daughter will be able to continue her education in Poland.