‘Gray Cat’: 100 More People Wishing To Know The Truth Subscribed To My Channel During Interview

Why are authorities so afraid of independent bloggers?

Human rights activists wanted to recognize blogger Dzmitry Kazlou, better known as the Gray Cat, as political prisoner. The man got 90 days of arrest for participating in the anti-integration actions,then was released, unexpectedly and only temporarily, since alleged disinfection was being carried out in the Vorsha detention center, Belsat reports.

So, unexpectedly, he walked free, and made a livestream called “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!”, because for him the holiday season has just begun. Blogger Dzmitry Kazlou, better known as the Gray Cat, got into the Vorsha temporary detention center on December 24. Going home after release, he dreamed: “To come home, take a shower, relax and read messages. Being a blogger, I need to find out what people wrote to me, and read the news. After all, I was in isolation for a month, and I don’t have a clue what is happening in the world - what rallies were held, who were jailed, who were released, what Lukashenka and Putin were doing.

Dzmitry returned to public life already today, although two more arrests remained pending. Therefore, Dzmitry does not unpack his “prison emergency bag”, as well as several other activists who left the detention centers with incomplete sentences - for calls, organizing or participating in rallies against the integration with Russia. The Gray Cat is convinced that it is in vain: “They can, for example, take me for a week on Freedom Day, or some other time. And then for a month in August, so that the elections are held “peacefully”.

The Code of Administrative Offenses allows the court to punish the offender for 15 days of arrest according to one protocol. If there are several protocols, the maximum penalty is 25 days. There are 6 protocols against the Vorsha blogger. The court ignored the rule of summing them up: for each protocol, they sentenced the blogger to 15 days.

Human rights activist Pavel Levinau, who took custody of the arrested for a month, is outraged: “Any punishment should be humane. 90 days under an administrative process - there is nothing humane about it. Criminal offenders are sometimes punished with 90 days of arrest.”

This is twice as long as for the organizer of the actions in the capital Pavel Seviarynets. According to court rulings, Kazlou went to jail for public calls for protests in December, and the publication of these calls on his accounts in the social media.

“While you were doing this interview with me, 100 more people, who want to know the truth about what is happening in Belarus, subscribed to my channel,” says Gray Cat.

This is the reason for the persecution of opposition bloggers, said Barys Haretski, Deputy Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists: “People like Gray Cat, Siarhei Tsikhanouski, and Siarhei Piatrukhin remain the most dangerous bloggers for the authorities. This is a new kind of activism - Internet activism. This is a danger for the authorities, when a blogger close to the audience calls on young people for some actions, and young people listen to this blogger.”

In December, on the days when Lukashenka and Putin were expected to sign the integration documents, the majority of the protesting wave were young people. Human rights activists urged the authorities not to punish the participants of the peaceful actions in defense of sovereignty.

Fifty participants of the actions were tried. 10 people celebrated the New Year behind the bars. All of them have to additionally pay BYN 13.5 per one day of stay in the detention center. Dzmitry Kazlou's pending invoice today is BYN 332.

“It is unknown what they could have planted in my apartment for these 30 days. The police had keys, and could do anything. I don’t know ... someone even wrote to me: beware of provocations. Tomorrow they may come and declare that you are selling stuff here,” says Dzmitry.

Despite the pressure, blogger Gray Cat returned to his territory, and will work with information as before.