KGB chief: Probe into White Legion case still in progress, strong evidence needed


The probe into the White Legion case is still in progress and it is too early to say whether the case will be sent to court, Valery Vakulchyk, Chairman of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB), told reporters on Tuesday.

“You know that the charges are very serious. As we had no evidence against some of them, we dropped the charges and dismissed criminal proceedings,” he said.

According to the KGB chief, the case should be deliberately studied and investigated into.

“It is premature to say that they are criminals. Even if investigators and I have strong suspicions that someone is guilty, it is not enough – there should be strong evidence of someone’s guilt. Now we are trying to find out who was their leader and who was a doer. That is why I cannot say [Miraslau] Lazouski was the main instigator,” Vakulchyk stressed.

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About 30 persons – former members of the defunct sports and patriotic organization White Legion, state-authorized sports and military club PatriotYoung Front activists as well as people who are not associated with any organizations, landed up in jail after Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s words about ‘armed militants’ posing a threat to Belarus.

Two pre-trial prisons of Minsk, the KGB prison and the Interior Ministry’s jail, continue to hold 14 people accused of ‘preparing riots’, some of them were charged with ‘establishing an illegal armed group’. According to unconfirmed information, they may be tortured and drugged.

On June 7, Belarusian human rights organizations published a joint statement calling for immediate release of all persons arrested in the ‘rioting and armed group case’ after reports of torture in KGB prison.

 belsat.eu

belsat.eu

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