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Belarusian Interior Ministry denies casualties in protests

Earlier, a representative of the Viasna human rights center told TASS that one person had been killed during the protests in Minsk

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MINSK, August 10. /TASS/. The Belarusian Interior Ministry has refuted the reports claiming one person has been killed during mass protests in Minsk on August 9.

"There are no casualties," Belarusian Interior Ministry Spokesperson Olga Chemodanova told TASS on Monday.

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One person killed during protests in Minsk, human rights activist says

Earlier, Valentin Stefanovich, a representative of the Viasna human rights center, told TASS that one person had been killed during the protests in Minsk.

On Sunday night into Monday morning, mass protests took place in Minsk and other Belarusian regions in the wake of the Belarusian presidential election. Law enforcement officers were forced to use special means of constraint to subdue the protesters.

On August 9, a presidential election was held in Belarus. According to the preliminary results published on Monday by the Belarusian Election Commission, Lukashenko has won with 80.23% of the vote. Opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya has come in second with 9.90%. The other three candidates received fewer than 2% of the vote.

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