Friday, 21 August 2020

Lukashenko's Belarus: "Have you ever felt joy from finding out a loved one is in prison?"

Photo: Homoatrox

At 6pm on 10 August, 32-year-old Yury Savitsky was working in his tyre repair shop when a group of unknown people burst in, forcefully put his hands behind his back and pushed him into a van with tinted windows and drove off.

Savitsky’s abduction came a day after a disputed presidential election in the country which saw incumbent Alexander Lukashenko announced as the official winner, picking up 80% of the vote and giving Lukashenko, who has been president since 1994, another five-year term.

Here his wife Ekaterina talks to Index of her frantic search for Savitsky, standing outside the infamous Okrestina prison and hearing the screams of those inside.

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