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Crisis in Belarus

Belarusian prosecutor’s office opens terror preparations case against Tikhanovskaya

Prosecutor-General Andrei Shved stated that "the aforesaid persons several days ago tried to stage explosions and arsons in the capital and other cities"

© Maxim Guchek/BelTA/TASS

MINSK, March 29. /TASS/. Belarusian Prosecutor-General’s Office has opened a criminal case against former presidential candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya on charges of preparations for a terrorist attack, the Belarusian news agency BelTA quotes Prosecutor-General Andrei Shved as saying. Some members of the group calling itself BYPOL (an association of oppositional former law enforcement employees) face similar charges.

"The Prosecutor-General’s Office on the basis of materials presented by the State Security Committee and Interior Ministry have opened a criminal case against Tikhanovskaya and members of the so-called initiative BYPOL for preparations for an act of terrorism by an organized group under article 289 of the Criminal Code," Shved said.

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He stated that "the aforesaid persons several days ago tried to stage explosions and arsons in the capital and other cities."

"Citizen Maleichuk detained at the crime scene has already agreed to testify and disclosed the names of the organizers of and participants in the terrorist attack," Shved said. He added that the organizers of terrorist attacks were going to accuse bodies of state power of "committing actions posing risks to people’s lives."

On March 26, the Interior Ministry said that Belarusian law enforcement agencies prevented two terrorist attacks a resident of the Pinsk district (Brest Region) was going to commit in Minsk and at a military garrison in the Minsk Region.

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