Afnahel: My status got changed from suspect to witness

Coordinator of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Yauhen Afnahel has been released. He was detained by Minsk District Baraulyany police on Wednesday.

"At first they made a theft report and then I was released as a witness,” Afnahel told Radio Liberty. “The policemen kept phoning somebody asking for advice and then they replaced the word ‘suspect’ with ‘witness’ in the report. However, I told them that I had not stolen anything. I made the purchase in the presence of witnesses in the daytime. There were numerous security cameras on the territory. Calling it a theft is absurd.”

Yauhen Afnahel and his wife Katsyaryna Ludvih were detained in Kalodshchny in the afternoon. The bought metal plates for their fence. They were taken to the police office separately. Katsyaryna was let off soon afterwards while Yauhen was kept there until the evening. The couple are building a house in Kalodzishchy. The metal plates Afnahel bought are produced there. Six policemen with cameras appeared when they were leaving the warehouse and announced that it was a theft. The seller was also detained. The policemen threatened the activist with a criminal case.

It was an abortive provocation, Afnahel thinks.