MINSK. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Journalist and media manager Andrei Alexandrov and his girlfriend Irina Zlobina have been detained on suspicion of financing protest activities in Belarus, Belarusian Deputy Interior Minister Gennady Kazakevich said on Friday.
"It has been established that Andrei Alexandrov, 42, and his girlfriend Irina Zlobina, 31, have financed people who took part in riots and other protests in the territory of Minsk since August 2020, including by paying fines, compensating the costs incurred by violators of law by being held in isolation facilities and detention facilities, etc.," Kazakevich said.
A video with his statement was posted by Interior Ministry spokesperson Olga Chemodanova on her Telegram channel.
Alexandrov and Zlobina received all money used for these purposes from abroad, Kazakevich said. "Part of the money was spent on personal needs, namely, on renting expensive housing in Minsk, food, etc.," the deputy minister said.
"Alexandrov said he had received an offer to engage in such activities from By_help Solidarity Foundation (founded by Andrei Strizhak and Alexei Leonchik), which helps citizens who are said to have been hurt during the protests," Kazakevich said.
Zlobina soon joined these activities. "They paid, in total, more than 250 fines to various names in the period between August 22, 2020 and November 9, 2020. The money for those purposes was provided by the foundation By_help. The money was passed via caches hidden on the territory of the Minsk district. The man took more than $100,000 and euros from caches found using geolocation coordinates," the deputy minister said.
A bank card prepared for these purposes was left for Alexandrov in a storage box in a shop in Minsk. It was used to make non-cash payments and to cash money.
"Searches were conducted in the suspects' apartment and in the office of BelaPAN, of which Alexandrov has been a manager for a long time and where he has until now rented an office. One hundred and sixty-eight receipts from paid fines, cards, more than $25,000 and euros and Br20,000, protest attributes, and computer equipment were found and seized," Kazakevich said.
The investigators have opened a criminal case against the individuals based on the article dealing with the training and other preparation of people for participation of group actions massively violating public order, as well as financing and other support of such activities.
The detainees have been put in a detention facility. Kazakevich also said the Interior Ministry's Main Directorate for the Prevention of Organized Crime and Corruption has completed a probe into similar situations of financing of protests by an unregistered public organization. The materials have been sent to the Investigative Committee for legal evaluation.
According to earlier reports, Alexandrov stopped making contact around 2:00 p.m. on January 12. On January 13, it was reported that he had been detained. Yekaterina Garlinskaya, a spokesperson for the Minsk Directorate of the Investigative Committee, told Interfax that Alexandrov had been detained because he was found to be involved in actions massively violating public order that took place in Minsk.