“This is an inadequate reaction to a completely innocent note.”

Vladimir Sungorkin, editor-in-chief of Komsomolskaya Pravda, commenting on the detention of the Belarusian journalist Gennady Mozheiko, named By “arbitrariness” the latest events related to “Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus”.

“A few days ago we thought that there was some kind of protracted misunderstanding, but now I think that everything that happens to Komsomolskaya Pravda is arbitrary. What caused it, I do not understand. This is an inadequate reaction to an absolutely innocent note, ”said Sungorkin.

In talks with RIA Novosti, the KP editor-in-chief notedthat the detained journalist had been hired by two lawyers, but so far they had not had the opportunity to meet with him.

About the detention of Gennady Mozheiko became known in the morning of October 2. On September 30, the journalist of “Komsomolskaya Pravda in Belarus” was still in Moscow, when exactly he was detained is unknown. Later became knownthat Mozheiko is in the Minsk detention center on Akrestsin Street.

On the afternoon of October 1, a search was carried out in the apartment where the journalist lives. According to Mozheiko’s mother, the decree indicated two articles of the Criminal Code: Part 3 of Art. 130 (incitement to racial, national, religious or other social enmity or hatred) and Art. 369 (insulting a government official).

Mozheiko is the author of the material about the programmer Andrei Zeltser, who was killed by the KGB officers. The article cites the words of Zeltser’s acquaintance, who spoke positively about him. The next day after the publication of this article, the Belarusian authorities blocked the website of Komsomolskaya Gazeta.

On September 28, in Minsk, plainclothes KGB officers came to an apartment building on Yakubovskogo Street in order, according to the official version, to conduct an anti-terrorist raid. They broke into the apartment where 32-year-old employee of the American company EPAM Systems Andrei Zeltser lived with his wife and little son. The programmer opened fire from a hunting rifle and mortally wounded Dmitry Fedosyuk, a soldier of the Alpha special unit. The KGB claims that Zeltser was killed by return fire. His wife was arrested and is in the detention center in Akrestsin Street.

After the shootout, a criminal case was initiated under Part 2 of Art. 139 of the Criminal Code (murder of a person in connection with the performance of his official activities).

On September 29 and 30, at least 87 people were detained in Belarus for leaving critical comments on the Internet. Many of them wrote about the shootout in Zeltser’s apartment.

The head of the presidential administration, Igor Sergeenko, promised to bring to justice those who would express sympathy to Andrei Zeltser: “I appeal to those who crossed the red line. I warn you, the owners of the shops where, as you know, the so-called war leaflets are sold, propagating extremism, violence and crime, gloating, calling themselves journalists and all those who played the “revolution” here and abroad – answer before the law. Don’t even try to mop up your social media accounts. Everyone who saw a sacred victim in the criminal, who stepped over the tears of a four-year-old child, who made a hype on the grief of the officer’s family, will be found. Today you showed your true face: unprincipled, mean and immoral. You have become on a par with criminals and their accomplices. The choice has been made. There is no forgiveness for this, there is no excuse for this. “

On October 1, Alexander Lukashenko began a meeting with the leadership of the Presidential Administration with a minute of silence in memory of the deceased KGB officer. According to him, Dmitry Fedosyuk was wounded in the heart, but was able to kill Zeltser, who was armed with a gun, with two return shots. Lukashenko stressed that “the killed IT specialist was a participant in the rebellion.” According to Lukashenka, the security forces who stormed the apartment on their own initiative did not put on protective equipment, as they allegedly “did not want to disturb the citizens.” “The guys just didn’t want to once again, as they say, shine, protecting people,” he assured.