KGB releases journalist suspected of espionage


Aliaksandr Alesin, a military affairs expert, has been released from the predetention centre of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) on his own recognizance, newspaper Belorusy i Rynok reports.

“I consider [what has happened] a frame-up by the people I was cooperating with. Wishing or not, but they threw me under a bus. I have never gone beyound the law, I took information from public domain,” Aliaksandr Alesin told RFE/RL.

The journalist stresses it is still hard for him to come to senses. He has been troubled himself on the account of his family, he says. At the moment Mr Alesin is going to consult a doctor because he is suffering from hypertension.  

According to Mr Alesin, a charge of treason has been lifted from him, but he is still accused of cooperation with foreign secret services. The Belarusian Criminal Code provides a lighter sentence for it; that is why Mr Alesin has been released but restricted.

The journalist was arrested on November 25 by state security (KGB) agents but it was independent media that made the information about his detention public on December 4. Later his family said referring to the KGB the journalist was accused of treason and cooperation with a foreign state’s special security or intelligence service. It is known that Alesin is not a main suspect. A foregn diplomat whose name is not mentioned seems to be also involved in the case.

www.belsat.eu/en

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