Night detentions. Who are Lazouski, Yaudaukha and Dundukou?

In the afternoon on March 21 Aliaksandr Lukashenka said that Belarusian special services had destroyed a camp for militants' training in a forest between Asipovichy and Babrujsk. According to the head of state, several dozens people were detained. The news broke as a bomb...and a huge surpise: KGB, Interior Ministry and Prosecutor's Office are yet to release a comment.

Already in the evening, arrests began in Minsk - they were seemingly not connected. Miraslau Lazouski, the former leader of Bely Legion [an underground pro-Belarusian independence sport and patriotic organization] was the first to get detained. In the 2000s, the organization seized to exist. Currently, Lazouski has a publishing business.

According to Lazouski's friend Nina Shydlouskaya, she lost contact with him at approximately 1900 on March 21 when he left the office. The detention took place in central Minsk in Mayakouski street. Lazouski was reportedly beaten. When he was brought home at around 2000 to search his apartment, there was blood on his head and the hands cuffed, according to Shydlouskaya

"Bely Legion"(White Legion) is a sport and patriotic organization, which operated underground in Belarus in the 1990s. It was founded on the youth wing DRAB (Regional Security Guard) but liquidated by the authorities Belarusian Union of Officers. In 1996-1999, Bely Legion comprised approximately 200 people. They participated in all major opposition-staged street rallies in the late 1990s. After 1999, the organization halted operations, with some of the members switching to business and some working as guards for opposition leaders. The last time Bely Legion was mentioned was in 2008 when the former leaders of the organization Ihar Korsak, Miraslau Lazouski and Siarhei Chyslau were detained in connection with the investigation of the explosion on July 3, 2008. They were shortly released.

The next detention aslo took place in the center of Minsk. Book trader Ales Yaudakha was detained by unidentified men when he stepped out of CECH art center after the literary awards ceremony. He was detained at approximately 2200.

Yudakha's apartment was searched for the whole night. According to Euroradio, the security officials paid attention to the maps of BSSR and Minsk region, a book on the combat tactics, cash money (local currency, US dollars and euros), souvenir fan stickers and chevrons of the battalions fighting in Ukraine. The book trader is accused of organizing and preparing the large-scale unrest.

Ales Yaudakha is a prominent Belarusian book distributor, founder of the Books via Post website. Yaudakha specialized in the distribution of Belarusian-language literature - something not liked by the authorities. In 2011, the trader was detained and accused of illegitimate entrepreneurship. In July 2012, he was sentenced to one year of restricted freedom and ordered to pay $6500 in losses to the state. Yaudakha remained in the business.

In the morning of March 22, a third person and a former Bely Legion member Andrei Dundukou was detained. Most recently, Dundukou worked at the Ministry for Emergencies. "He was detained at night at the border with Ukraine when driving with his wife, child and a friend. The friend was detained and the car confiscated. The wife and the child had to hitchhike and reached home in Minsk at around 6 in the morning," Nina Shydlouskaya told Euroradio.

What do these arrest mean?

Political commentator Andrei Parotnikau reckons that after Lukashenka's statement Belarusian security officials found themselves in a situation when they had to provide justification for the result. “When the result is announced that dozens militants were detained, security services had to find those militants. Therefore, the system began to work. They have opened their databases and picked the persons who, in their view, are inclined to extremist or violent actions - that's it. I think more detentions will follow,” thinks Parotnikau.

According to unconfirmed reports, one more Legion member who now serves in law-enforcement was detained in the night of March 22. Euroradio will follow these developments. Stay tuned.