Number of evacuation requests from Belarus spikes – foundation

February 9, Pozirk. BYSOL Foundation co-founder Andrej Stryžak has said the EU-based foundation received an increased number of evacuation requests from Belarus during the recent crackdown there.

“In the timeframe we are talking about, the number of people who wanted to escape increased up to three times,” he told reporters in Warsaw.

“It means those inside the country who had a reason to be afraid of criminal charges, not just ‘administrative’ charges, were hit hard,” he said.

He added that the foundation had excellent security protocols, and denied claims by Belarusian state media that security forces could access its databases.

Hundreds were arrested during the security raids in January, according to the Viasna Human Rights Center. Authorities charged at least 24 citizens with felonies and at least 43 with misdemeanors.