Ukraine has called on Belarus authorities to free three Ukrainian citizens detained during a violent crackdown on protests over the disputed results of the Aug. 9 presidential election, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Aug. 13.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus sent two notes to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry requesting information about the whereabouts and grounds for detention of Kostyantyn Reutsky, Yevhen Vasyliev, and Oksana Alyoshina who had been detained since Aug. 12.
“We demand immediate consular access to the detainees. We demand their immediate and unconditional release for their return to Ukraine,” Kuleba said.
Currently, a Ukrainian consul is visiting pre-trial detention centers in Minsk searching for the three Ukrainians.
One more Ukrainian national, whose name was not disclosed, was found in a pre-trial detention center in Brest.
Former journalists Kostyantyn Reutsky and Yevhen Vasyliev are members of Vostok SOS, a charity organization helping victims of the Donbas war in eastern Ukraine. Reutsky is an executive director of Vostok SOS, and Vasyliev, a coordinator of monitoring and documenting human rights violations.
According to Belarusian human rights defender Tatsiana Ravyaka, Belarusian authorities opened a criminal investigation against them for “mass unrest”, Belarusian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Aug. 13.
Chief of the presidential office Andriy Yermak said there were no grounds to detain the two men.
“They didn’t violate any laws of Belarus, didn’t participate in mass protests, didn’t carry illegal items or materials,” he said, cited by the press service of the Ukrainian presidential administration. “Human rights activists visited Belarus solely for the purpose of obtaining reliable information on what was happening there and for commenting on the latest events in Minsk for Ukrainian mass media.”
Thirty-seven Ukrainian human rights organizations have signed an open letter to Belarusian authorities to release Reutsky and Vasyliev immediately.
Belarus authorities said that 6,000 people were arrested and two died in three days of nationwide protests that erupted after longtime ruler Alexander Lukashenko claimed a landslide victory over his opponent, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. She was forced to flee the country.
The elections have been widely recognized as unfair by the international community. Opposition and its supporters have decried the election fraud and demanded a recount of vote. Video footage and multiple personal accounts showed that the police used excessive force against unarmed demonstrators and journalists. Witnesses also reported arbitrary arrests and torture in detention.
In response to the vote-rigging and police brutality, workers at state-owned enterprises went on strikes and hosts of state television channels resigned.
Nine Ukrainian citizens detained in Vitebsk earlier have been released.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has advised citizens against traveling to Belarus “until the situation stabilizes.”
