Dmitry Laevsky, the lawyer of a senior member of the coordination council of the Belarusian opposition, Maksim Znak, filed a complaint with the court through the investigative committee about his client's detention, Belarusian media reported on Friday
MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2020) Dmitry Laevsky, the lawyer of a senior member of the coordination council of the Belarusian opposition, Maksim Znak, filed a complaint with the court through the investigative committee about his client's detention, Belarusian media reported on Friday.
On Wednesday, Znak was detained in Minsk as part of the criminal case into the opposition's calls for a coup in the republic. On Monday, as part of the same case, the Belarusian authorities detained Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the opposition council's presidium, while she was trying to enter Ukraine. Two other opposition figures - Anton Rodnenkov and Ivan Kravtsov - have managed to flee Belarus.
According to the tut.by news portal, a detention complaint must be transferred by the investigating authority to the court within three days after the detention, which also has three days to consider it. The court may cancel the detention and issue a recognizance not to leave. In this case, the detention may be canceled by the investigative committee itself.
"The defense categorically rejects the suspicions put forward against Maksim Znak, since none of Maksim's statements has ever violated the law or has been a call [for a coup] or directed against national security," Laevsky said, as quoted by the news outlet.
The opposition coordination council of Belarus was set up by the opposition members who reject the results of the presidential election held on August 9. State prosecutors launched proceedings against the council, suggesting that it could harm the country's security. The council says its goals and methods of work comply with the country's constitution. To date, all members of the opposition coordination council have been detained, arrested or are abroad, except for Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich, a recipient of the Nobel prize in Literature.
