EU envoy detained for two hours after trial of human rights advocates

September 7, BPN. EU Chargé D’affaires Evelina Schulz was arrested after the trial of human rights defender Marfa Rabkova and anarchist activists in Minsk on September 6. She was held at the Frunzenski district police department for about two hours, a source in the EU diplomatic circles told BPN.

The incident was reported to the EU leadership in Brussels and the head of the EU delegation in Minsk, Dirk Schuebel, who left the country in mid-2021 at the insistence of the Belarusian authorities and now works from abroad.

Other European diplomats, who came to the Minsk City Court to hear the verdict, were not arrested.

So far, there has been no official response from the EU and its office in Belarus. It also remains unknown whether the diplomat was charged or not.

According to human rights defenders, at least 13 persons, including family members of the convicts and human rights defender Anastasija Łojka were rounded up near the court building and taken to the Frunzenski district police department. All were released later the same day, except for Łojka and Daniił Krašeŭski who are to stand trial.