Oppositional politician offered to “have conversation” about Minsk blast

• 8.07.2008, 11:52

Homel coordinator for creation of the public association “Belarusian Christian democracy” Kanstantsin Zhukouski has been served a subpoena to appear in the police department of Tsentralny district of Minsk.

It is written in the document that he is to visit a detective officer of criminal investigation department for a conversation, BelaPAN informs.

On July 7 in the morning Zhukouski received a phone call from police. He was told that he is summoned for interrogation related to the blast on July 4 in Minsk. “The summons is written in a wrong way. It is not stated there in which capacity I am summoned, as a witness, injured party or suspect. And I do not understand what a “conversation” is,” Kanstantsin Zhukouski said. “I won’t go to the police department, they should at least write summons correctly. As a citizen I should have received a summons personally and I was to be explained in what capacity I am summoned. If I am an oppositionist, it doesn’t mean that I am guilty of something or should be a scapegoat”.

The matter is that the politician intends to stand for election as a candidate for the Belarusian “parliament” in Buda-Kashalyova constituency. He links the call from police with intention of the authorities to exercise moral coercion on him.

Representatives of the criminal investigation department of Tsentralny district refuse to comment on the reasons of Zhukouski’s summoning to police, referring to the fact that the young man was invited for a mere “conversation”. Criminal investigation department officers noted that summons to police is a part of the law-enforcing agencies’ work, and it is not a duty of police to cover investigation’s details in newspapers.