Biting critic of Putin, Lukashenka arrested, but his blog updated


1863x.com, a political blog created by arrested Belarusian Eduard Palchys aka Jhon Silver, is still alive. The blog is dedicated to the current political developments in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Belarusian history and culture. The unsigned materials sharply criticized the regimes of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Vladimir Putin.

On September 13, the article ‘Fighters’ Legion’ was published on 1863x.com. Its author said they would continue blogging.

“Do not look for mobile phones in my cell and do not searches in my lawyers. Jhon Silver – but not Eduard Palchys – is writing it. And I promise you: We, Silvers, are of such breed which multiplies prolifically in certain situations. And we do not advise you to multiply us in the atmosphere of repression otherwise we become angry, write more articles and work harder,” the author says.

Another Jhon Silver is not aware of what the authorities are going to do with him: “In view of another wave of liberalization, a forecast can be comforting – for example, they will be satisfied with the term I have already spent in prison. But since no logic works in Belarus – they may want to show me that it is no good to blame and criticize Russia”.

“Do not think that Jhon Silver will go silent. Eduard Palchys is taking a break from a keyboard, but, of course, we will prevent it from getting dusty,” the author promises.

According to Silver, two criminal cases were brought against him in 2015 for his activities in the blog – for allegedly inciting ethnic strife (in particular, for the article ‘Kill the Russian World’) and spreading pornography.

The blogger decided to hide in Ukraine. All the while he lived in Kyiv, from where he continued to work on the blog. But when the blogger went to a meeting in Russia in January 2016, he was arrested and put in jail. At the beginning of 2016 Sputnik i Pogrom, an extreme right-wing Russian organization, reported that the real name of the ‘Russophobe from Belarus’ is Eduard Palchys

Then Palchys was transferred from Russia’s Bryansk jail to Belarus.

The blogger may face up to five years of imprisonment for ‘inciting hatred’ and up to two or for years in jail – for allegedly distributing pornography. The charges are pointless and artificial, Belarusian human rights defenders say.

 belsat.eu

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