BySol helps former imprisoned Viasna volunteer flee Belarus

May 27, Pozirk. The BySol Solidarity Foundation has helped Andrej Čapiuk, a Viasna Human Rights Center volunteer who had served a prison term for advocacy, leave Belarus, its head Andrej Stryžak said on social media.

BySol has launched a fundraiser to collect €1,500 to cover his initial expenses for accommodation, medical treatment and rehabilitation.

Čapiuk was arrested in October 2020 and later given six years in prison for observing political trials. His release was scheduled for mid-April taking into account the time he spent in a pre-trial detention and three months taken off from his term. However, law enforcers started interrogating him as a witness in another case, placing him under police supervision for 18 months and prohibiting him from leaving the country.

Authorities also blacklisted him as an extremist and a terrorist, banning him from opening a bank account.

“It is impossible for me to find employment or rent a place to live [in Belarus]. If you are unemployed [in my situation] criminal charges will follow. I realized that I could not live under such conditions and decided to flee. Now I am safe,” the activist said.

At least four Viasna’s members, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Aleś Bialacki, his associates Valiancin Stefanovič and Uładzimir Łabkovič as well as volunteer service coordinator Marfa Rabkova are held behind bars in Belarus. They are serving lengthy prison terms.

Also read: Supreme Court shortens activists’ lengthy sentences by three months