The Head of Viber on Today's Belarus: We Cannot Invest in Such a Country

The company closed its office in Minsk.

Internet blocking in Belarus on August 9-12 led to interruptions in the work of the Viber messenger. The company started thinking about reducing investments in the country and closed its office in Minsk. Jamel Agaua, CEO of the owner of the service, Rakuten Viber, told Forbes about this.

Agaua said that after the raids on the offices of Yandex and Uber, it was decided to immediately close the Minsk office.

"We just didn't know why these people took over the offices of these companies. And we decided to evacuate our office for safety. Because we didn't know why these people took over the offices, we didn't know if it was political. We didn't have any information," he explained.

Agaua also said that two company employees were arrested during the protest days, he said, for no reason.

- Now our lawyers are working with these people, so far it is impossible to understand why they were arrested. They didn't even protest. One was just near the place where the others were arrested, and he was taken with the others. Another was an observer at a polling station. He asked several questions to the leadership of the polling station, and after 20 minutes he was arrested. And in this fear, it is quite difficult to make the right decision in order to understand what is happening.

The CEO said that one employee has already been released, the second has been hospitalized with serious injuries and is still under arrest by law.

- We do not do politics on Viber. We are waiting for the violence to end. People are protesting peacefully. And the right to protest peacefully is vital. If you cannot say that you do not agree, then you have no freedom. People should be able to express their disagreement peacefully. We are against any form of violence. People in Belarus must decide their future, - Agaua is sure.

The CEO says that earlier there were plans to double investments in Belarus. But now investments may stop altogether.

"This can be because we cannot invest in a country where people live in fear," Agaua said.