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Statkevich’s campaign manager put into KGB jail

Syarhey Martsalew, ex-presidential candidate Mikalay Statkevich’s campaign manager, has been arrested and is held in the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB), civil society Tsimafey Dranchuk told BelaPAN.

Mr. Martsalew was taken off a Minsk to Warsaw train at the Brest station by Belarusian border guards and handed to police on the night between December 22 and 23. He was taken to the nearby district police station.

Mr. Martsalew told BelaPAN by phone that he was traveling to Warsaw to take part in a show produced by Belsat TV, a Polish-based Belarusian-language satellite channel targeting audiences in Belarus.

He was held at Brest’s police department until at least the morning of December 24. He could not be reached by phone since that moment.

A KGB officer phoned Mr. Martsalew’s family on the evening of December 24 to inform than that the man was a suspect in the mass riot case opened following the opposition’s post-election street protest.

There are at least 22 suspects in the case. These include seven former presidential candidates.