Mikalai Bredzeleu, the head of the public relations department of A1 Belarus, has been punished with administrative arrest, the newspaper Nasha Niva reports.
Mikalai was sentenced to 15 days in jail, his mother said on Monday. But it is still unclear what Mikalai was charged with and found guilty of.
On December 10, A1 press secretary Mikalai Bredzeleu was detained by officers of the notorious GUBOPiK/GUBAZiK (Main Department for Combating organised Crime and Corruption). They claim that Mikalai leaked confidential information to Telegram channels linked to the Belarusian opposition and protester. In turn, the A1 company denies the allegation and states that the defendant did not have access to sensitive data.
A1 (Unitary Enterprise A1) is a telecommunications, ICT and content services provider in Belarus. Since November 2007, the company is part of A1 Telekom Austria Group, the European subsidiary of the multinational holding América Móvil, one of the world’s largest wireless service providers, its official website reads.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry, the Austrian Embassy, and A1 Telekom Austria Group condemned the actions of the security forces against Bredzeleu. After the arrest, pro-Lukashenka propagandists launched an online attack on the company, Mikalai Bredzeleu and even the Austrian ambassador to Belarus. On Friday, the Telegram channels linked to the regime released a so-called repentant video in which Bredzeleu not only admitted to spilling to one of the opposition bloggers, but also said he was collecting information about people’s private life.
“Currently, we do not know about any lawsuits, even against A1 Belarus, we learned about those accusations only from unofficial channels,” a representative of the A1 Telekom Austria Group told Austrian TV station PULSE 24 on Sunday in Vienna.
According to the parent company, the Belarusian authorities ‘have not yet been able to provide any information on the kind and scale of the leak. In addition, they reportedly failed to initiated a revision of the A1 Belarus systems and processes.
“We will use all available legal and diplomatic means to support and protect our employees,” A1 Telekom Austria Group said.
