An American student reading at Columbia University in New York seeks help after her boyfriend, a Belarusian doctoral researcher at an American university, was kidnapped by security forces in the country’s capital, Minsk, amid a crackdown.
Marisa Durham, a 26-year-old student at Columbia University, said she slept in bed with her boyfriend, Stas Gorelik, on Wednesday night when armed and masked Belarusian security guards allegedly knocked down the door of her Minsk apartment around 1 a.m.
The officers, one armed with an attack rifle, broke into his room, Durham said, and forced them to lie on the ground. The officials then beat Gorelik, a Belarusian citizen, in all likelihood breaking his nose, according to Durham.
After searching the apartment and checking the couple’s belongings, officials took Gorelik, Durham said. She’s noticed since then.
“They let me say goodbye and then they took it,” he told ABC News on Thursday.
Durham said Gorelik was being held in a Minsk centre controlled by KGB security in Belarus.
His lawyer did not allow him to see him, he said, “We have no concept of his condition.”
Durham not stopped. He said the security guards had made him point out a russian document that he might not understand, and then the agents left.
So far, Durham and his circle of relatives have said they don’t know if Gorelik has been qualified. But according to his circle of relatives, a court order issued for the raid on Gorelik and Durham’s apartment included a note indicating that he was taking a position around a prospective rate under article 293 of the Belarusian penal code covering “mass riots.”
But Durham said neither she nor Gorelik had taken part in the protests and had departed from them. He said the couple were in Belarus during the summer and had spent the last few months there after Gorelik returned to spend time with his circle of relatives during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gorelik, 32, is pursuing his PhD. at George Washington University in political science and his studies have focused on elections in authoritarian regimes in Russia and ex-Soviet countries, according to his biography on the university’s website. He has been a PhD student there since the fall of 2016 and was a higher education assistant at the time, the university said in a statement.
Gorelik’s studies have focused on Ukraine and Armenia. He had planned to make box paintings for his thesis in Armenia in March before returning to the United States, but after the start of the pandemic, he was unable to unload a visa and had to stay in Minsk.
“That’s the craziest thing. We are ers,” said Durham, who studies economic and political development. “I wasn’t doing anything in Belarus.”
Gorelik’s father said his son’s arrest was absolutely unfounded and they still didn’t know why they took him away. But he thought Gorelik had been a target because of his research.
“We have no understanding at this time. But in any case, these accusations are certainly unfounded,” his father, Lev Gorelik, told ABC News on Friday. “We are 100 percent sure that our son is surely innocent, and only suffers for knowledge, for his opinions.”
Elder Gorelik said his son had commented to the Belarusian media about occasions in the country in the days leading up to his arrest. “But those were the comments of an investigator. And something else,” he said, adding that Stas had participated in the protests and had no ties to protest groups.
On Friday, the Belarusian Interior Ministry and the kgB responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Some of Stas Gorelik’s university colleagues have also posted online calls about his case.
A spokesman for George Washington University said the university is aware of Gorelik’s detention and becomes involved for his well-being.
“We continue to monitor the scenario as it develops and are in contact with the parties involved. We are involved for your well-being and have touched your circle of relatives to be offering and assisting,” said the spokeswoman, Crystal L Nosal, A member. director of media relations at the university, he said in a statement.
The U.S. embassy has contacted Durham and is assisting him, but since Gorelik is not a U.S. citizen, the embassy can’t help him, he said. Durham, who is from Texas, said she and Gorelik had been dating for two years.
Gorelik in the past had a student visa in the United States, but has expired since the pandemic, he said.
Minsk prisons are lately full of other detainees during the protests, according to hounds on the floor and the stories of the liberated. Hundreds of others gathered outdoors in prisons to search for news of their loved ones being led by police during the protests. There are reports that police have brutally beaten other detainees. Audio posted on social media reveals screams that appear to come from internal prisons.
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