Babaryka’s team dismisses report of him leaving hospital

April 27, BPN. The team of opposition politician Viktar Babaryka has dismissed a report claiming that he is no longer at the Central City Hospital in Navapołack, Viciebsk region.

Earlier today, the Warsaw-based Belsat TV reported, citing sources, that “three uniformed officers of the corrective colony and several people in plain clothes” took him away from the hospital’s surgery department.

“According to our information, Viktar Babaryka is still at the hospital in Navapołack,” the team said on social media. It quoted medics as saying that they were draining fluid from his lungs.

“Viktar’s severity of illness is estimated to be moderate. He is under the supervision of the hospital’s medical staff. The reason for the hospitalization is still unknown,” it said.

“At the moment, any transportation can pose a deadly threat to his life and health,” it added.

The banker-turned-politician, Babaryka, was arrested by security officers weeks before the August 2020 presidential election. The arrest prevented him from registering his candidacy for the race despite turning in 425,000 voter signatures, four times as many as required by law.

One year later, the Supreme Court sentenced him to 14 years in prison, finding him guilty of large-scale fraud and legalization of funds derived from criminal activity.

Yesterday, a worker rights group reported the politician’s hospitalization with signs of beating and a collapsed lung.

A source has told BPN that “a patient with the last name Babaryka, born in 1963,” was admitted to the Navapołack hospital. Doctors reportedly confirmed a pneumothorax. Another source said the patient might have too much fluid in his lungs.

In light of the development, the opposition’s cabinet has called on the international community to “fully use the instrument of sanctions pressure on [Belarusian ruler Alaksandr] Łukašenka’s regime.”