Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has said another Ukrainian citizen was detained in the town of Brest, Belarus, during ongoing protests in that country.
"On August 12, relatives of a citizen of Ukraine applied to Ukraine's consulate in Brest, who did not return home from work on August 11. The consulate immediately began searching and established he was detained in Brest on August 11 (as a protester) and is now in a local detention center," the MFA's press service wrote on Telegram on August 13, 2020.
Read alsoUkraine's Foreign Minister calls on Ukrainians not to travel Belarus amid protests
Ukrainian consuls will meet with heads of local law enforcement agencies soon to clarify all the circumstances of the incident and provide the necessary consular and legal assistance.
The situation is under the control of the Ukrainian consulate in Brest and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Protests in Belarus: What is happening?
- On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus.
- That country's Central Election Commission announced preliminary election results. In particular, 80.23% of voters supported incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko, 9.9% voted for Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, 1.68% for Anna Kanopatskaya, 1.13% for Sergei Cherechnya, and 1.04% for Andrey Dmitriev. Some 6.02% voted against all candidates.
- On the evening of August 9, thousands of Belarusians took to the streets to take part in spontaneous rallies, which followed by clashes with law enforcement agencies. The police in Minsk fired water cannons, tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets in a crackdown on protests.
- Belarus' Ministry of Internal Affairs announced about 3,000 protesters were detained on the night of August 10, more than 2,000 people on the night of August 11, and more than 1,000 on the third night of the protests in different towns and cities across the country.
- On August 12, nine citizens of Ukraine were detained amid protests in Belarus, but later they were released.
- Also, three Ukrainian citizens, namely Vostok [East] SOS human rights activists Kostiantyn Reutski and Yevhen Vasylyev, as well as Oksana Alioshyna, were detained on August 12.
- A criminal case was opened against them on charges of mass riots. They are facing three to eight years in prison.
