Anastasiya Matchenko (in the Belarusian version of the name also Matchanka), who participated in several of our events and actively contributed to several projects, was arrested yesterday after taking part in a group observing the elections in Belarus.
Speaking at an EOTP press conference on Tuesday, September 25 in Vilnius, Matchanka said that, based on what she and others observed, she doubted whether there was sufficient turnout for the election to be valid. She noted that poll workers were observed falsifying participation data. When pressed, many said they were “just doing their job”.’
We condemn that Nastya and her friends were taken to the police office and that their fingerprints were taken just because they exercised their civic rights and their democratic duty as responsible citizens. We are happy that all of them were released after a few hours.