KGB reports details of January arrests in Brest region

April 2, Pozirk. The Committee for State Security (KGB) two months ago arrested two groups of people it described as “terrorists,” claiming that they worked for the Ukrainian security services in the Brest region, said a documentary broadcast on Monday evening by the ONT TV channel.

The KGB reportedly detected one group in the Drahičyn district bordering Ukraine in mid-January, arresting 12 locals on charges of smuggling explosives into Belarus.

Law enforcers identified Dźmitryj Kapuza as their leader. His brother Alaksandar with wife Volha as well as certain Uładzimir Kapuza are also under arrest.

In the documentary, Dźmitryj Kapuza is limping and using a cane, while the footage shows that he was wounded.

KGB agents said they shot him because he “resisted, tried to escape and posed a threat to the lives of the KGB officers.”

A local source said that Dźmitryj Kapuza comes from Svaryń, a village at the border with Ukraine. His family has been engaged in small cross-border shuttle trade for decades, selling goods such as sugar, cigarettes and berries.

Jaŭhien Hruk, his wife Lidzija and Viktar Jaskič were arrested in the Małaryta district, according to the documentary. The Hruks have four underage children and were labeled a socially-insecure family, which means that social services can take the children away from them to an orphanage.

The arrested are charged with committing a terrorist act as an organized group, said Kanstancin Byčak, a KGB agent recently promoted to chief investigator.

If convicted, the male defendants may face the death penalty.

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