Yauhen Kanstantsinau: "After the visit of plainclothes men I had to quit job"

Navapolatsk activist Yauhen Kanstantsinau, head of the youth association "Union of Young Intellectuals", was the first who told reporters that on November 8 the Union’s deputy chairman Andrei Haidukou was arrested in Vitsebsk. The KGB accused Andrei Haidukou of intending to conclude an agreement with foreign intelligence services. Yauhen Kanstantsinau himself was visited by "people in civilian clothes".

"They came twice. First time – after my interview for the Belsat TV channel concerning the detention of Andrei Haidukou. They asked what kind of person I am, whether there were any complaints. Then they came again, and my manager told me directly: "You'd better leave yourself".

Yauhen Kanstantsinau was a security guard in a shop in Minsk. A year ago, he was fired from the Navapolatsk-based company "Naftan" – after his arrest during the campaign of silent protests.

Yauhen Kanstantsinau says the attention by the secret services is linked to the arrest of, who is currently held in the KGB’s Minsk jail. He is facing criminal charges under Par. 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus ("treason through intelligence activities").

According to independent media, another acquaintance of Andrei Haidukou was questioned in this case – Polatsk coordinator of the organizing committee for the creation of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Ilya Bahdanau. However, Bahdanau was released soon after the arrest, having undertaken obligations on the secrecy of the investigation.