On June 16, Kanstantsin Yakauleu, the senior coach of the Vitsyaz handball club and an activist of the Free Association of Athletes of Belarus (SOS_BY), was detained.
Kanstanstin was going to hold an open training session in Novaya Baravaya residential area in Minsk; in the morning, he and other athletes headed to the town of Baranavichy to collect sports journalist Dzmitry Ruto who had served a 15-day jail term.
“When we were returning from Baranavichy, the traffic police stopped us. Then masked officers arrived and took away only Kostsya Yakauleu,” Ivan Hanin, a multiple kickboxing and Muay Thai champion and SOS_BY activist, said.
Miss Belarus-2008 Volha Khizhynkova, volleyball player Artur Udrys, footbaler Vasil Khamutouski, decathlete Andrey Krauchanka were in the car with them as well, but they were not detained.
It should be recalled that in October 2020, the Vitsyaz club headed by Kanstantsin Yakauleu refused to hold a match in light of the Belarusian authorities’ arresting prominent basketball player Alena Leuchanka. Then the team was removed from the handball championship as a penance.
belsat.eu
