BYSOL Foundation helps regime officials evacuate

May 16, BPN. BYSOL Foundation, which supports Belarusian protesters, has been receiving more requests to evacuate former regime members who want to leave the country. But its founder, Andrej Stryžak, has told BPN that it is not a mass phenomenon yet.

He noted that officials face the dilemma: to serve the people honestly or quit the system. Officials risk being involved in human rights violations and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, he added.

The Belarusian opposition based abroad has a group with competences to vet former security officers, but Stryžak said it is hard to check other officials and those claiming to hold state secrets. Still, the evacuation service is available, he said.

His comments come hours after the National Legal Internet Portal posted amendments that allow security agencies to restrict Belarusians’ foreign travel.

The amendments authorize the Committee for State Security (KGB) to prohibit Belarusians, including senior officials, heads of local authorities, presidential security service, from traveling abroad on national security grounds.