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In the August 9 elections, Belarusian authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko will run for a sixth term, and his regime has cracked down on the opposition as the vote approaches, with many protesters and some aspiring candidates arrested.
Cepkala, whose Central Election Commission did not register as a candidate, “went to Moscow with his children for fear of his own safety,” Alexei Urban, a spokesman for the former diplomat, told AFP.
His wife, Veronica Cepkalo, remained in Belarus to help the campaign for registered opposition candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
Cepkalo told Belarusian news portal Tut.by that she and her husband had decided that he should go with the children after receiving “information from reliable sources that my husband was planning to be arrested for dubious reasons.”
He added that two days earlier, prosecutors had visited the Cepkalai Children’s School and asked teachers to write statements.
“As I understand it, they have started the process of depriving my maternity rights,” said Cepkalo. “That is why we decided to remove Valeria and the children from Belarus, because we see a real threat and danger.”
Lukashenko, the former president of the collective farm, has led Belarus since 1994. During this period, his regime has constantly repressed opposition activities and has arrested or imprisoned presidential opponents, and none of the country’s elections have been declared free. and fair by European observers.
Previously, Tikhanyovskaya, the only registered serious opposition candidate, said she had also sent her two children abroad for her safety.
Tichanovskaya said she received an anonymous phone call while traveling across the country to ensure greater voter support and was threatened with imprisonment and the transfer of her children to a nursing home.
Ms. Tichanovskaya, an English teacher, assumed the presidency when her husband, Sergei Tichanovsky, a popular blogger, was arrested and was unable to run for office. He is currently detained in prison.
During her campaign, Tichanovskaya joined forces with Veronika Cepkalo and Marija Kolesnikova, the campaign manager for former banker Viktor Babaryka. V. Babaryka, considered potentially Lukashenko’s strongest rival, was arrested in June for alleged financial crimes, and his candidacy for the presidency was denied registration.
Last month, the human rights organization Amnesty International condemned the “misogyny” by the Belarusian authorities against women activists and wrote that they faced threats of sexual violence and forced kidnapping of children.
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