Missing Ex-Investigator Yauhen Yushkevich Found In KGB Pre-Trial Detention Center

He stopped answering the phone last night.

Yesterday, former investigator of the Investigative Committee Yauhen Yushkevich, who is a suspect in a criminal case, was not answering the phone for more than three hours. This was reported in social networks by his girlfriend. Later, Yauhen's lawyer wrote that he was in the KGB jail, tut.by reports.

Former investigator and now android developer Yauhen Yushkevich is a suspect under Part 1 Article 342 of the Criminal Code (Organization and preparation of actions, grossly violating public order, or active participation in them). He was detained in November 2020, but after the preliminary investigation the measure of restraint was changed to pledge not to leave. Now he regularly goes to interrogations. During one of the interrogations in March, someone broke into the car he was driving and was doing something there.

Yesterday around 7 p.m. his girlfriend reported that he had not been available for two hours, and, according to neighbors, the police were waiting for him outside the house.

Later Yushkevich's lawyer Maryja Kolesava-Hudzilina wrote that he was in the KGB detention center. According to her, they showed the relatives the search warrant with Article 289 of the Criminal Code (Act of Terrorism).

Who is Yauhen Yushkevich?

Yauhen Yushkevich is from Mahiliou. In 2012, he graduated from the Law Faculty of Belarusian State University. He was among the winners of the student legal Olympiad of the faculty on legal disciplines.

During his studies, he worked for two years as a freelance investigator at the Minsk prosecutor's office, and then for five years as an investigator in the Investigative Committee. In 2017, he left his position as a senior investigator of the economic crimes investigation department of the Minsk Investigative Committee. Among others, he investigated high-profile cases, such as the case of Davidovich.

After leaving the Investigative Committee, Yauhen became an android developer, and in the summer of 2020 he initiated the bychange.me project, which "helps in training, retraining of law enforcement officers, civil servants and just people who were fired or left their jobs for reasons of conscience."

Yauhen also writes on Twitter, expressing his views on the situation in Belarus and the work of law enforcement agencies.

He was detained in his apartment in Minsk, which was also searched, on November 24, at about 10 p.m. He is a suspect in the case of Anatol Liabiedzka. He is a suspect under part 1 of article 342 of the Criminal Code (organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate the public order or active participation in them). He was taken into custody, but after the preliminary investigation the measure of restraint was changed to a written pledge not to leave the place.