Video by Kastus Zhukouski
The local police raided the house of Homiel-based activist Barys Anikeyeu over allegedly ‘insulting the president’.
On Friday morning, two policemen entered his house without giving any reasons, later seven officers joined them, journalist Kastus Zhukouski reports.
Barys Anikeyeu was driven to a police station, but released a bit later.
“The policemen came to my place and closed the door. The reason for their visit was a collage on Facebook. But I managed to contact my acquaintances, Kastus Zhukovski arrived, and they had to take me to the police station, where they talked to me in in a different way. They wanted to lock me up in the cell,” Anikeyeu told Belsat.
According to the policemen, the activist ‘insulted the president’.
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It is not the first time in 2018 that Belarusian activists and bloggers have been persecuted for their criticizing president Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
On February 22, the Minsk police searched the flat of a popular Belarusian videoblogger as part of the investigation of the criminal case under Art. 386 (‘insulting the president’). 19-year-old Stsyapan Svyatlou [Svyatlou is an alias] has been vlogging about social and political life in Belarus on NEXTA Youtube channel, which has over 100,000 subscribers.
In early March, blogger Pavel Spiryn was summoned to the police station as the author of the documentary film “Stepfather”, dedicated to Lukashenka and the current state system.
