BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/06/2007

Belarus KGB offered bounty to editor for information on oppositionists

30,000 Belarus rubles was the bounty offered to the Boom newspaper editor Stanislav Kavalevsky for information about the Mogilev city opposition, online agency Khartiya 97 reports.

The cooperation failed as Kavalevsky had valued his supposed assistance much higher. He asked USD 1,500 or 2,000 monthly and a corresponding entry in his labor register book, the Radio Racia says. According to Stanislav Kavalevsky, plain-clothed agents started the talk with threats. They even didn't introduce themselves meaning that the newspaper editor knew them. But they promised that if Kavalevsky didn't stop his activities he would be expelled from the Mogilev State University, where he is a first year student of the history faculty. To the KGB officials' mind, the Belarusian army where they promised to send the student is a far less prestigious place, radio adds.

The KGB has demonstrated a long-lasting interest in Stanislav Kavalevsky. Firstly, the KGB agents told that he was under international search. Then they asked at the university about his trips abroad. Finally, not without the help of the KGB men he was dismissed from the position of the group monitor at the University for organizing the protest action against the benefits annulment. And the faculty's dean has already promised to fire the student. The question if student Kavalevsky survives the summer session remains open, Khartiya 97 concludes.

Source:

http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1318