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Member of Asipovichy District Soviet questioned by KGB over December 19 post-election demonstration

Alyaksey Tsyulkow, a member of the Asipovichy District Soviet, was questioned Saturday at the Asipovichy Inder-district Office of the KGB over the December 19 post-election protest in Minsk.

During the past presidential race, Mr. Tsyulkow, a member of the unregistered Belarusian Christian Democracy party, was an authorized representative of the party’s candidate, Vital Rymashewski.

According to the party’s press office, Vadzim Marozaw of the KGB’s Asipovichy Inder-district Office phoned Mr. Tsyulkow on Friday morning to tell him that he should come to the office for questioning. Mr. Tsyulkow answered that he would be away on a business trip and would make himself available for questioning only after receiving a summons.

When he returned home in the evening, he found a summons in his mail box.

Mr. Tsyulkow was questioned for more than two hours. Apart from the December 19 protest, he was asked questions about the collection of ballot-access signatures for Mr. Rymashewski and the organization of his campaign meetings with voters, as well as about Mr. Tsyulkow’s foreign trips, the press office said.

Mr. Tsyulkow was warned that he had the right not to give evidence against himself.

On December 19, Mr. Tsyulkow took a fixed-route minibus to Minsk but was intercepted by police in the city of Rudzensk. He refused to answer what he was going to do in Minsk.

At a meeting of the Asipovichy District Soviet in late January, the Soviet’s members unanimously attacked Mr. Tsyulkow for campaigning for an opposition presidential candidate, accusing him of amorality. //BelaPAN