Book about victims of post-election crackdown published in Minsk

A book-launch event for journalist Alyaksandr Tamkovich's Suprats Plyni (Against the Flow), which describes the fates of 18 victims of the post-election crackdown on government opponents in Belarus, was held in the office of the Belarusian Popular Front in Minsk on December 21. 

Unlike Budzitseli (Wakers), a collection of interviews with prominent Belarusians published a year ago, the new book consists of a series of essays, Mr. Tamkovich said during the event. 

According to Mr. Tamkovich, a human rights organization called Vyasna (Spring) helped him publish Suprats Plyni. "When I was discussing my plans for this book with the organization's leader, Ales Byalyatski, we could not even imagine that he himself would end up in prison and might become a central character of my next book, a sequel to Suprats Plyni." 

Some of the protagonists of Suprats Plyni took part in the launch event and shared their impression of the book. They included Uladzimir Nyaklyayew, an opposition candidate in last year's presidential race, Alyaksandr Atroshchankaw, who was spokesman for presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw, and former police officer Alyaksandr Klaskowski.