New Arrests in Belarus: Including Multiple World Champion
Thai boxing is one of the sports whose representatives are not silent about what is happening in Belarus. Vitaly Gurkov and other kick and thai boxers signed the athletes' letter for fair elections and against violence. Famous fighters Nikita Shostak and Denis Varaksa talk about bureaucratic repressions and the actions of the security forces, and the World Championship medalist Ivan Ganin became one of the active members of the Free Association of Athletes. Boxers are also not spared by such an integral part of the Belarusian reality as falling into captivity. In the first days after the elections in Molodechno, multiple world champion Alexei Kudin was detained and beaten. And recently it became known about the arrest of several more athletes: the champion of Belarus Alexandra Sitnikova and the holder of a huge number of titles, Yuri Bulat. Multiple Muay Thai world champion and now famous coach Yuri Bulat was sentenced to 15 days of arrest for “participating in an unauthorized action”, although there is evidence that he and his family were in a different place at that time. Now Bulat is at Okrestina Street and a lawyer is not allowed to see him. Another person who went to jail was the master of sports, multiple champion of Belarus, three-time medalist of the European kickboxing and Thai boxing championships Alexander Sitnikova. According to information from the fighting circles, on the day of the arrest, the 24-year-old girl did not think about any rallies - her mother had an anniversary, and her daughter (as it turned out, at the wrong time) drove into the store for flowers, which became a sufficient reason for the arrest and accusation of already the classic "participation in an unauthorized mass event." On October 14, the athlete was sentenced to 10 days of arrest - an "excellent gift" to her mother for the holiday on the eve of Mother's Day. The famous Belarusian basketball player, the best center of the 2010 World Championship, star of women NBA Elena Levchenko, was supposed to be released on October 15 after 15 days of arrest for participating in peaceful marches and expressing her civic position. But in the morning Levchenko was not released from Okrestina Street, as soon another trial was to take place over her - all on the same charges ... Here is what Elena Levchenko was able to tell about the conditions of her detention today: “I sleep for 13 days on cold metal beams, my linen has been confiscated. They didn't take a shower for two weeks, they turned off the water. They didn't take us to the toilet for five days, our drain doesn't work. Lice have appeared. Nobody helps with the treatment. Feel inflammation on the female side The judge stated that the petition to change the conditions of detention will not be satisfied, ”Levchenko said today at the court hearing. Now known Belarusian athletes are in the Center for Isolation of Offenders (CIP) of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Minsk City Executive Committee on Akrestin Street in Minsk. This is the very institution, about the horrors of which many Belarusian and world media wrote.