Belarus’s investigative commission has launched an investigation into two members of the opposition Nexta opposition group, which has been described as a “terrorist organization”, Belta news agency reported today.
The investigation targets Stepan Putilos, co-founder of the YouTube and Telegram channel, as well as Ian Rudick, another Nexta executive. The two men are in self-exile outside Belarus.
Nexta played a key role in the protest movement against the August 2020 re-election of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The country’s Supreme Court outlawed it as a “terrorist organization”.
The commission of inquiry is accusing the two men of plotting to oust Belarus, which has ruled Lukashenko since 1994 with an iron fist.
The next co-founder and former editorial director of Nexta, Roman Protasevic, was arrested in May 2021 along with his partner Sofia Sapega when the plane they were on was forced to land in Minsk.
Protasevic is currently under house arrest awaiting trial, while Sapega was recently sentenced to six years in prison.
On Wednesday, Belarus issued a decree imposing the death penalty for preparing an attack or for “attempting to commit a terrorist act”. These accusations concern a large number of opposition supporters, as well as the exiled leader of the Belarusian opposition.
The non-governmental human rights organization Viasna, many of whose members are in prison, has counted more than 1,000 political prisoners in the country.
Source: Capital
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