MINSK  – An opposition candidate who tried to face towards Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko in next month’s presidential election has fled to Russia in conjunction with his two sons, fearing they’d perhaps perhaps very smartly be taken away, his advertising and marketing and marketing campaign acknowledged on Friday.

Valery Tsepkalo, the nation’s old ambassador to Washington and later the founding father of an characteristic of job park for abilities companies, alarmed that the authorities had started court docket cases to deprive him of his parental rights.

Lukashenko has jailed two of his main election competitors and detained hundreds of protesters in a crackdown on dissent towards his 26-365 days rule that has drawn Western criticism.

Tsepkalo’s advertising and marketing and marketing campaign acknowledged officials from the prosecutor’s characteristic of job had come to the boys’ college soliciting for written statements that his family weren’t taking trusty ample care of the kids.

“We had been left with out a probability,” Tsepkalo’s wife Veronika, who stayed within the attend of to advertising and marketing and marketing campaign towards Lukashenko, in fact helpful a crowd of hundreds of individuals at a rally.

“I became known as by concerned individuals and as well they acknowledged: ‘We attain no longer should signal these papers, nonetheless they pressure us (to signal), they catch one thing substandard towards you and the following step is to deprive you of parental rights, that it’s seemingly you’ll perhaps perhaps perhaps also very smartly be a substandard mother, attain no longer opt care of the kids’.”

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s characteristic of job declined comment. Tsepkalo’s camp has no longer disclosed the age of the kids.

Tsepkalo’s race out of the country comes days after one other opposition candidate, Svetlana Tikhanouskaya, moved her two kids to an undisclosed enviornment within the European Union. She bought anonymous threats of her kids being taken away.

Veronika has joined forces with Tikhanouskaya and a third lady representing one other candidate, now in penitentiary, to advertising and marketing and marketing campaign jointly towards Lukashenko.

Tsepkalo became barred from standing after the central election commission voided likely the most signatures he essential to amass to turn into a candidate.

Tikhanouskaya launched her advertising and marketing and marketing campaign after her husband, a most in model blogger who planned to speed towards the president, became arrested in Would possibly perhaps perhaps.

Protests in pork up of opposition candidates are the highest topic in years to Lukashenko, amid exasperate over his going by of the coronavirus pandemic and grievances over the economy and human rights.