Searches Of Relatives Of Coordination Council Candidates Continue

The Coordination Council reports that searches and interrogations were carried out this morning at the homes of relatives of several candidates from the “European Choice” list.

Earlier, the Viasna Human Rights Centre was aware of more than 10 searches involving candidates from several factions running for the Coordination Council for the first time. They were conducted as part of a case opened under articles related to participation in an extremist formation, treason, conspiracy to seize power and calls for sanctions. In some cases, relatives were pressured in an attempt to force their family members to withdraw from electoral lists ahead of the vote.

Elections to the Coordination Council will take place from May 11 to 17.

Previously, the KGB designated the following electoral lists as “extremist formations”:

• “Your Voice”,
• “Nastup”,
• “Enough to Be Afraid” / “Khvatit Boyatsya”,
• “United Civic Platform” and/or “Obyedinyonnaya Grazhdanskaya Platforma”,
• “Rukh Volya”,
• “Bloc of Belarusian Political Prisoners ‘Belarusi Dziyannya’”.

It should be noted that the KGB had also designated electoral lists in the 2024 Coordination Council elections as “extremist formations”.