English
By
Charles Maynes
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MOSCOW - An American detained in Belarus ahead of the country’s disputed August presidential elections arrived safely to the United States on Wednesday after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appealed for his release, his lawyer tells VOA.
Vitali Shkliarov, a Belarusian-American political analyst who worked on past political campaigns of former President Barack Obama and Senator Bernie Sanders, was detained by state security agents while visiting his parents in Grodno July 28.
Authorities charged Shkliarov with helping organize illegal rallies for a member of the opposition ahead of the August 9th election — a vote that Lukashenko claims he won in a landslide but has been widely seen as rigged to maintain the leader’s 26-year hold on power.