Lukashenko Accused of Corruption with Video Report Called "Lukashenko: A gold mine"

Journalists from the Belarusian opposition news portal Nexta have accused long-time leader Alexander Lukashenko of large-scale corruption in a online video with millions of views.

Almost 2 million people had already watched the video of the investigation titled "Lukashenko: A gold mine," one day after it was posted to YouTube by a group of journalists exiled in Poland.

In the more than an hour-long video, the journalists accuse Lukashenko of financing several luxury real estate items and expensive cars with public money, based on an anonymous source in the presidential administration.

Lukashenko has not commented on the video, but last week indirectly rejected claims that he owns a secret luxury estate.

The video resembles an investigation by Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who in January accused President Vladimir Putin of having a luxury estate near the Black Sea worth millions.

Belarus has been in the grips of a domestic political crisis since August 9 presidential elections in which Lukashenko declared victory with 80.1 per cent of the vote.

The election of Lukashenko, who was been in power for over two decades, was widely seen as rigged and provoked months of huge street protests, numerous deaths and more than 30,000 arrests.

The opposition has announced fresh protests for spring, though experts doubt they will be of the same size after the violent police crackdown on demonstrations last year.

 

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