Valery Tsepkalo, former contender for the post of the Belarusian president, confirmed on Friday that he had left Belarus due to concerns about his possible arrest and was now in Moscow, adding he could return to his home country before the presidential election, scheduled for August 9
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2020) Valery Tsepkalo, former contender for the post of the Belarusian president, confirmed on Friday that he had left Belarus due to concerns about his possible arrest and was now in Moscow, adding he could return to his home country before the presidential election, scheduled for August 9.
In mid-July, the Belarusian Central Election Commission refused to register Tsepkalo, ex-ambassador to the United States and former head of the Belarus Hi-Tech Park, as a presidential candidate.
"I have good friends in law enforcement agencies. When I received information from one agency ... I decided to stop showing where I am, for a while. But when another agency ... told me that there was certainly an order to arrest me, I started considering the possibility to leave. Meanwhile, prosecution officers came to the school my children go to and called on teachers, deputy principal and director to sign some papers related to my child. I do not know what kind of papers these are, but one of the teachers was highly concerned and she described the situation to us. So, I took the children and brought them to Moscow," Tsepkalo said, as quoted by the tut.by Belarusian news portal.
Tsepkalo specified that he had received information about the plans to arrest him from the Belarusian Interior Ministry and the State Security Committee.
"In general, I certainly plan to return to the country after the election. Everything will depend on the result of the election, but if it is hot in Belarus I will come before August 9," Tsepkalo said.
The former presidential hopeful announced that he would soon hold several press conferences in Moscow, Ukraine, "a European country" and the United States.
