Belarus to face consequences for EU diplomat’s arrest – spokesman

September 14, BPN. EU spokesman Peter Stano has told DW that the recent arrest of chargé d’affaires Evelina Schulz in Minsk will have serious consequences.

The incident is very indicative of the nature of the Belarusian regime, which has announced an amnesty but at the same time holds political trials behind closed doors, he said.

“And then they dare to take the unacceptable and very dangerous step of detaining a diplomat,” he added.

Schulz was briefly arrested on September 6 as she was leaving the Minsk City Court, where a closed-door trial in the so-called anarchists’ case took place.

The EU blasted Schulz’s detention as illegal and summoned a Belarusian diplomat in Brussels to clarify the incident.

The Minsk City Court on September 6 imposed lengthy prison sentences on two human rights defenders and eight anarchist activists. The Viasna Human Rights Center’s coordinator Marfa Rabkova was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and its volunteer Andrej Čapiuk to six.

Human rights groups say their persecution is politically motivated.