Top Belarusian Basketball Referee Detained at Border Over Telegram Chat

Belarusian basketball referee Alexander Syritsa has been detained since January, according to «Euroradio.» Syritsa was taken into custody upon returning to Belarus.

Syritsa faces charges of «insulting Lukashenko and creating an extremist organization.» His wife was also detained at the border and subsequently served time.

Since 2005, Syritsa has been a FIBA referee. In 2019, he, along with his colleagues, sued the Belarusian basketball federation. Reflecting on the situation, he remarked:

«The federation does not need people with their own positions who have achieved something themselves. They removed everyone who dared to speak. Those who know how to bend and believe that management is always right are in demand. I will not say that all those who remained are bad people. But they are, sorry, spineless. I feel sorry for them. Who is to blame that they are not in demand anywhere else? And this is always used.»

It is also noteworthy that Syritsa is an outspoken critic of Russia’s war against Ukraine, where he spent a lot of time and faced the invasion in Kharkiv, as well as the failed political system in his native Belarus.

Alexander Syritsa is currently being held in a pre-trial detention center.