ACTIVIST ALLEGES BKGB ABDUCTION ON EVE OF MARCH 25

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 000275 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2017 TAGS: PGOV PHUM BO SUBJECT: ACTIVIST ALLEGES BKGB ABDUCTION ON EVE OF MARCH 25 DEMONSTRATION REF: A. MINSK 262 ¶B. MINSK 228 ¶C. 06 MINSK 365 ¶D. 06 MINSK 1144 Classified By: Charge Jonathan Moore for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) At a March 28 press conference organized by human rights NGO Vyasna, opposition activist Kristina Shatsikava described how unknown assailants abducted and interrogated her about ties with Malady Front (MF) leaders. Shatsikava claimed that on March 23, just hours after the BKGB had summoned her for questioning, unknown individuals restrained, drugged, and questioned the activist about her affiliation with imprisoned and/or detained MF activists in the run up to the March 25 protest (refs A and B). The assailants reportedly confined her in a mental hospital in the eastern city of Mogilyov for three days until she was released on March 26. ¶2. (C) Following the press conference, Shatsikava told Poloff that an unknown person called her earlier on March 23 and identified himself as a representative of the OSCE. The alleged OSCE representative asked her for an urgent meeting the same day, but Shatsikava, sensing foul play, declined the request. (Note: As she was speaking with Poloff, Shatsikava appeared to become ill and ran for the ladies' room. Her mother explained that her daughter was still sick from the drugs administered to her at the hospital. End note.) ¶3. (C) OSCE Minsk Human Dimensions Officer Fiona Frazer, who had a previous meeting with Shatsikava, categorically denied any OSCE connection and noted to Poloff that Shatsikava had a reputation among activists as being given to hyperbole and self-aggrandizement. Nevertheless, she said she would look into Shatsikava's account of events. ¶4. (C) Comment: We cannot vouch for Shatsikava's veracity. However, Shatsikava is a well known among opposition activist and the cousin of journalist Dmitriy Zavadskiy, an opponent of the Lukashenko regime who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 2000. Moreover, Shatsikava's story of unknown assailants impersonating Western diplomats would be consistent with a similar March 2006 episode involving human rights defender Vyacheslav Sivchik (ref C). Furthermore, her incarceration at a mental institution would also be consistent with the regime's repression of imprisoned NGO activist Yekaterina Sadovskaya last year (ref D). Shatsikava's episode may well illustrate that the BKGB, like the regime writ large, remains beholden to its brutal Soviet heritage. Moore