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Belarusian diplomats, police said to be looking for daughter of arrested Volha Klaskowski

Belarusian diplomats and the Swedish police are looking for the 12-year-old daughter of Belarusian citizen Volha Klaskowski, who was arrested last week on suspicion of attempting to murder her former husband, Andrey Savinykh, spokesman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, said at Thursday's briefing.

When Miraslava Naumovich's whereabouts are established, she will be handed over to her grandmother and grandfather in Belarus, Mr. Savinykh said.

The Belarusian foreign ministry maintains contact with Swedish investigators and will provide legal assistance to Ms. Klaskowski if she needs it, he said.

As the journalist's mother Lyudmila Klaskowski told BelaPAN on April 3, she has applied for a visa to travel to Stockholm and meet with her daughter.

She revealed that Miraslava was in a "safe place." "Volha does not want to tell Swedish authorities where Miraslava is staying as she is afraid that the daughter will be taken into institutional care or given to a foster family," she said.

Thirty-year-old Volha Klaskowski was arrested in the city of Haninge on March 30 after she reportedly stabbed her ex-husband, a citizen of Sweden, several times.

The woman is currently held in a jail in the city of Akersberga 30 kilometers northeast of Stockholm. On April 15, a Swedish court is scheduled to hold a preliminary hearing of Ms. Klaskowski's case.

In late January, Swedish authorities rejected Ms. Klaskowski's application for a residence permit and ordered the deportation of her and Miraslava Naumovich, her daughter from a previous relationship. In addition, Sweden's social services took away her son, nine months old now, because he holds both Swedish and Belarusian citizenships and handed him over to his father.

Ms. Klaskowski, who contributed to the pro-opposition newspaper Narodnaya Volya, was granted political asylum in Sweden a few years ago. She lost her status of refugee after returning to Belarus in 2011 to help the family of her brother Alyaksandr Klaskowski, a former policeman who was arrested during a December 2010 post-election street protest in Minsk and sent to prison for participation in "mass disorder."

The woman left Belarus in August 2011, one month before her brother was pardoned by Alyaksandr Lukashenka and released from prison.

Ms. Klaskowski got married for the second time about a year ago and gave birth to their son in July 2012. However, she has been denied a Swedish residence permit twice. Her Schengen visa expired on February 28. //BelaPAN