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Valery Tsepkalo announces plans to set fund to support civil society in Belarus

Earlier, he told reporters that a criminal case on bribery was framed up against him

MINSK, August 20. /TASS/. Former contender for the presidency of Belarus Valery Tsepkalo announced plans to create a fund to support the protesters at Belarusian enterprises. He discussed such plans at a meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz in Warsaw.

"At the meeting we discussed creating a Polish-American fund for financial and legal support of civil society in Belarus, in particular those who were injured during protests or are on strike at enterprises," Tsepkalo announced via his Telegram-channel. He also said that he was going to meet Speaker of the Polish Senate Tomasz Grodzki later on Thursday.

Earlier Tsepkalo told reporters that a criminal case on bribery was framed up against him. Belarus’ Interior Ministry initiated a pre-investigation check on the subject of illegal activities by Tsepkalo at the request of a Belarusian citizen of Turkish origin.

Belarus held a presidential election on August 9. According to the final results provided by the Belarusian Central Election Commission on August 14, incumbent President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko got 80.1% of the vote. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who was considered his main opponent, came in second with 10.12%.

After exit poll results were announced in the evening of August 9, protests erupted in downtown Minsk and other regions of the country, leading to clashes between protesters and the law enforcement. The protests continued over the following days. As a result, several thousand people were detained, dozens of police officers and protesters were injured.