Minsk: Rally of solidarity with arrested blogger condemning Russia’s aggression in Ukraine
On Thursday evening Belarusian activists held an action of solidarity with Eduard Palchys aka Jhon Silver, a 26-year-old blogger and resident of Lida, who is accused of ‘inciting ethnic hatred’. Palchys may face up to 5 years in prison.
Earlier, Pavel Sevyarynets, a former political prisoner and co-chairman of the Belarusian Christian Democracy party organization committee, called on all the indifferent people to gather near the remand prison in Minsk where Palchys is allegedly being kept.
According to Sevyarynets, the arrestee may be considered as a new political prisoner.
“This is a man who played the role of an aircraft carrier in the information war against Russian aggression. He published excellent, verified and very compelling which tens of thousands of people read. And if such a man is captured, our moral duty is take part in rallies of solidarity, demand his release and carry out the campaign “Freedom For Eduarda Palchys,” the politician stressed.
The activists were chanting slogans ‘Long live Belarus!’ hoping that those who are in custody, including palchys, could hear them. The picketers also remembered anarchist Dzmitry Paliyenka who was arrested during the Critical Mass cycling event.
The policemen drew up protocols on the participants of the action, but no one was detained.
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Jhon Silver created 1863x.com, a blog dedicated to the current political developments in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as well as Belarusian history and culture. The unsigned materials sharply criticized the regime of Lukashenka and Putin.
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.
On May 26, Palchys was transferred from Russia’s Bryansk predetention centre to Belarus, which has not been officially confirmed yet. The activists believe that he has been put to Minsk remand prison in Valadarski street.
belsat.eu
