Spokesman denies that KGB uses torture

A spokesman for the Committee for State Security (KGB) denied Thursday that the KGB was using torture against detainees.

Claims to the contrary are “pure invention and nonsense,” the spokesman, Alyaksandr Antanovich, said in a statement.

Earlier this week, former presidential candidate Ales Mikhalevich, who fled Belarus after two months’ detention in the KGB jail following the December 19, 2010 post-election protest in Minsk, reiterated his accusations that the KGB was using torture to force confessions or pressure people into cooperating with it. Referring to a former KGB officer who has recently been granted political asylum in an European Union country, Mr. Mikhalevich said in a story published on the Internet that torture was mentioned in the KGB’s guidance on how to bring people under control.

Mr. Antanovich warned that the KGB would open a probe in connection with the “libelous allegation,” which he said was intended to tarnish the Committee’s reputation.