Belarusian political scientist Valeria Kostyugova accused of conspiracy and calls to seize power

In Belarus, the political scientist Valeria Kostyugova was accused of conspiracy to seize power (part 1 of article 357 of the Criminal Code) and complicity in calls for the seizure of power (part 6 of article 16 and part 3 of article 361 of the Criminal Code). The woman faces a penalty of 12 years in prison. About it reported on her Facebook page her daughter Anastasia Kostyugova.

Valeria Kostyugova is the founder and editor of the site of the expert community “Our Opinion”, editor and author of the “Belarusian Yearbook” and head of the group of experts on monitoring “Belarus in focus”. She leads these projects with her husband. Valeria also led the column for The Insider project, describing the Belarusian events as a “women’s revolution”.

Valery Kostyugov detained June 30, after a search in the apartment. At the moment, Valeria Kostyugova is in a pre-trial detention center on Volodarskogo Street in Minsk, transfers “Present time”.

Belarusian political scientist, head of the Center for Political Analysis and Forecasts Pavel Usov said in an interview with “Present Time” that the third wave of repressions began in Belarus, which is directed against analysts. This wave, he said, began with political scientists Artem Shraibman, Valeria Kostyugova and independent expert Tatyana Kuzina.

Tatiana Kuzina, detained at the end of June at the Minsk airport, was charged under the same articles as Kostyugova. Shraibman left Belarus and went to the territory of Ukraine after the “interview” of the former editor-in-chief of the Nexta Telegram channel Roman Protasevich to the ONT state channel. In it, Protasevich spoke about Shraibman’s participation in the lovehata chat.

“I can only guess why and of my own free will, but Roma exaggerated my participation in the process. Indeed, until the fall of 2020, I was in this chat, which started as a simple online gathering of bloggers, but as the protests grew, this topic became key in the discussions, ”Shreibman wrote on his Telegram channel.

According to the political scientist, he is “hearing rumors about the impending criminal case, but so far it is difficult to confirm them.” “The paradox is that the security forces have known about the existence of the chat, its subject matter and the list of its participants since at least mid-autumn. I was shown on this list on ONT back in December, six months ago. And nothing, ”the analyst wrote.

Shraibman admitted that after Protasevich’s “interview” it was difficult for him to live and work in Belarus. According to him, he moved “into the zone of uncomfortable risk.”