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Of: TT
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Photograph: Andrej Stasevich / AP / TT
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will be sworn in on September 23 and begin a sixth term as president. Stock Photography.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been photographed visiting jailed opposition leaders.
On Saturday an image was posted on a Lukashenko-friendly channel on the Telegram messaging service and through the state news agency Belta.
The picture shows Lukashenko and eleven people in casual clothes sitting at a round table with flowers. All the prisoners were pale and no one smiled.
One was the opposition politician Viktor Babaryko. He was not allowed to run in the August presidential elections, which Lukashenko generally won by an overwhelming majority, after being arrested in July along with his son.
A spokesperson for Babaryko believed the image was genuine, but the reason for the meeting was unclear.
“Everyone is processing this information now,” the spokesman said.
On the Lukashenko Telegram channel, it was said that the president’s purpose was to assume everyone’s positions. What was discussed during the 4.5-hour meeting, the participants agreed to keep secret, according to Telegram.
“The constitution cannot be rewritten on the street,” Lukashenko was quoted as saying by Belta.
The result of the presidential elections sparked major protests. Thousands of people have been arrested and there are many testimonies of beatings and torture by the police.
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