Nineteen against one

The Minsk City Internal Affairs Directorate published a list of those arrested in the criminal case regarding mass riots in Minsk on December 19. It lists 19 people. Including five presidential candidates from the opposition: Vladimir Neklyaev, beaten on December 19 and then taken into custody straight from the hospital, Aleksei Mikhalevich, Vitaly Rymashevsky, Andrei Sannikov and Nikolai Statkevich. In addition, Sannikov’s wife, Novaya Gazeta journalist and Daily Journal author Irina Khalip; leader of the opposition United Civil Party Anatoly Lyabedzka; Statkevich's confidant Alexander Arestovich; Sannikov's confidant Dmitry Bondarenko; Neklyaev's confidant Sergei Vozniak; chief of staff of Neklyaev Andrey Dmitriev; police lieutenant Alexander Klaskovsky, detained after the riots on December 19 for trying to appeal to the conscience of the riot police who were beating people; confidant of presidential candidate Yaroslav Romanchuk Oleg Korban; Sannikov's press secretary Alexander Otroshchenkov; head of Romanchuk’s election headquarters Anatoly Pavlov; Deputy Chairman of the Young Front Anastasia Polazhenko; head of Rymashevsky's election headquarters Pavel Sevyarynets; editor-in-chief of the website "Charter'97" Natalia Radina and coordinator of Neklyaev's headquarters Alexander Feduta.

The situation with Yaroslav Romanchuk is curious: the leader of his party, Anatoly Lebedko, has two people from his election headquarters on his list, and on December 20 he himself publicly condemned the behavior of other presidential candidates, who, according to him, provoked riots in Minsk. On the same day, he met with President Alexander Lukashenko and asked to release Lyabedzka. Some of Romanchuk's associates and friends believe that he made the statement under pressure from the intelligence services.

Previously, the Belarusian human rights center “Viasna” published a list of suspects in the riots, but another opposition candidate, Grigory Kostusev, was mentioned there. He was detained during the riots, but subsequently the only opposition candidate was released on his own recognizance. This was preceded by Kostusev's interview with Belarusian television, where he stated that he regretted the unrest and laid the blame on his colleagues. Upon his release, he meanwhile accused the authorities of provocative actions that led to the riots.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ambassador to Minsk, Alexander Surikov, actually admitted that Russian citizens in Minsk were detained correctly, including even those who did not protest. According to him, quoted by Interfax, the Russian side understands that the very presence of its citizens at an unauthorized rally is an administrative offense, no matter whether the citizen expressed protest or not. Let us recall that the rally was attended, for example, by Russian journalists, whose professional duty is to cover the events; at least two of them were detained. Let us also recall that riot police that evening grabbed people indiscriminately, including those who were not in the square at all. Perhaps they also committed an offense - because something happened to them?

Surikov, however, asked the Belarusian authorities to forgive Russian citizens “where it can be forgiven.” “We guarantee reciprocal love,” he promised, adding: “We will not say that they should be released earlier by law.” He also noted that the embassy supports detained Russian citizens when they go to court.