MINSK. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The strike committee of Belarusian potash producer JSC Belaruskali has said that its activist Dmitry Kudelevich was detained by officers of the Belarusian State Security Committee (KGB) on Thursday, but he managed to escape and may currently be in Ukraine.
"Dmitry Kudelevich has said that he was detained by KGB officers and taken to their department, where he asked for permission to go to the lavatory and managed to escape through an open window. When he was being detained, he threw his car keys into his car, and the officers seized his wife's car keys from his pocket," the strike committee said on Telegram.
"According to unconfirmed information, he is currently in Ukraine," it said.
The strike committee said earlier that it had lost contact with two of its members, Kudelevich and Maxim Filanovich. Filanovich contacted the committee on Thursday afternoon.
"He's alright," it said.
As reported earlier, some employees of Belaruskali have been on strike for several days. The enterprise's strike committee said on Thursday that all mining administrations of Belaruskali are operating, but not at full capacity, because some workers are striking.
The Belaruskali administration said in the evening of August 19 that all seven mines were operating as usual.
Workers staged a rally on the central square in Soligorsk, where Belaruskali's major mines are located, in the morning of August 19. The strike committee decided to continue their strike until their demands are met. One of their main demands is the resignation of the country's incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko.
Belarusian media outlets reported on August 17 that all of Belaruskali's mines had suspended operations and that workers had declared a strike.
They demand that a special operations unit leave Soligorsk, because it has lost citizens' trust, that those involved in abuse of power and those who failed to conscientiously fulfill their duties in accordance the law during and after the election campaign be held to account, that the August 9 presidential election be ruled invalid, and that a new presidential election be held by a new Central Elections Commission in the presence of independent observers.