Interrogation of Andrei Pachobut
Andrei Pachobut, journalist and blogger, correspondent for Gazeta Wyborcza
On 13 September the Hrodna journalist Andrei Pachobut was summoned to the Office for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption of the Hrodna region.
The police were interested in the message on the journalist’s the Internet blog where he journalist talked about the rumors that circulate in the Lida district – that a local fortune-teller foresees an attempt on the head of state during the next Dazhynki festival in Lida.
’The policemen were interested in my blog on the Internet, in particular, a reprint from RFE/RL and the story that Aliaksandr Lukashenka will be killed after Dazhynki, allegedly told by an elderly fortuneteller. The degree of paranoia has significantly increased in recent years. The police are interested in the people who spread this gossip,’ - Andrei Poczobut.says.
’I refused to name my sources of information. At the same time, I emphasized that I had not been told that Lukashenka would be killed, but that there were rumors that he might be killed during Dazhynki. ‘There is a difference’, agreed the policemen.’
The journalist doesn’t rule out that his interrogation can be connected to the appearance on the web of the video with remarks of ‘a former employee of one of the special services of the Russian Federation’, who alleged that the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the murder of Aliaksandr Lukashenka during an official event.
