Belarus authorities start detaining people for comments praising protesters in Kazakhstan
On Friday, pro-Lukashenka Telegram channels have reported the detention of a Belarusian citizen who left a comment praising Kazakh protesters on Telegram.
“It’s great, well done Kazakhs, we need them here [in Belarus],” the man wrote.
In the so called repentant video filmed by the Belarusian police, the detainee says that he published a post about the events in Kazakhstan on the Telegram channel listed as ‘extremist’ by the Belarusian authorities. He said that he wanted Kazakhs to come to Belarus and do the same in our country, i.e. exhibit a bright example of protesting.
It is still unknown what the man has been charged with and where he is being kept.
The unrest in Kazakhstan broke out on January 2. Since then, the protesters drew a cut in fuel prices from the authorities (previously, they had been raised twice), then the government stepped down, and finally, the Kazakh people saw the ultimate resignation of Nursultan Nazarbayev come true.
On the night of January 6, Armenia’s Prime Minister and Chairman of the CSTO Collective Security Council Nikol Pashinyan announced that the Collective Security Treaty Organisation decided to send ‘peacekeeping forces’ to Kazakhstan for ‘a limited period of time’ on the back of the appeal of Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev. Pro-Lukashenka government confirmed the involvement of the Belarusian troops.
