Vitali Shkliarov, aged 44, is a researcher of Harvard university, native of Belarus but based in Washington and married to an american citizen.
A political consultant who worked for presidential candidates in the United States and Russia, is accused Belarus of having helped to organise events and faces up to three years in prison, said his lawyer Saturday.
Vitali Shkliarov, aged 44, is a researcher of Harvard university, native of Belarus but based in Washington and married to an american citizen. He has worked for the campaign in the primary to u.s. senator Bernie Sanders, has been a volunteer for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama and has advised the opposition in Russia before being arrested in Belarus in late July.
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His lawyer, Anton Gashinsky, said that Vitali Shkliarov was accused of having organised actions of public disorder before the presidential election turned on Sunday in Belarus. According to him, this arrest is not an attempt of deterrence on the part of the authorities before the vote, but a willingness of Minsk to see the consultant to be brought to justice. “This is a very serious matter”, he said.
Proclaimed his innocence
Vitali Shkliarov proclaimed his innocence, claiming to be sanctioned for having issued comments on the political situation in Belarus before the election. In the Russian edition of Forbes magazine published in July a few days before his arrest, he had written that the election campaign of Alexander Lukashenko was based on “populism and the brute-force”.
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“Some people” detained for “disturbing public order” have “us passports [and] are married to Americans who work for the department of State” has accused president alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, in a reference to thinly veiled to Vitali Shkliarov.
Citing the security service of the State, television in belarus says that Vitali Shkliarov, advised the former opponent of Lukashenko, Sergei Tikhanovski, now in prison. His wife, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, has since emerged as one of the opponents of Alexander Lukashenko the most in order for the election.
Vitali Shkliarov denies having worked for them. He arrived in Belarus earlier in the summer to see her parents with her young son, and is now in a state of shock because of his arrest, according to his lawyer.
