Over 500 members of Belarus’ booming tech industry have weighed in on the unstable situation in the country in an open letter calling for new elections. Authorities reacted violently to protests that broke out in the wake of Sunday’s disputed election, which sparked an outcry over the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Senior executives from some of Belarus’ top IT companies signed a letter that casts doubt on the validity of the election results, as well as calling for an end to violence against protesters and the release of political prisoners.
They have urged government agencies to:
- Stop violence against civilians and remove the atmosphere of fear from the streets;
- Release all political prisoners and detainees;
- Conduct new transparent elections of the President of the Republic of Belarus;
- Provide citizens of the Republic of Belarus with free access to information.
Several of the signatories are high up in companies at Minsk’s world-renowned Hi-Tech Park, including management from EPAM Systems and Itransition. The clout of the letter is amplified by the fact it comes from the IT sector in Belarus, which is “famous for its development and success,” Kamil Klysinski, a senior fellow at the Centre for Eastern Studies, a think-tank focussing on Belarus, told Euronews.
Source: Euronews
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