Vaitkevičius

is wanted in Belarus on charges of evading military service.

"The court, without evaluating the arguments, made a decision based on the fact that the person is wanted in another country and therefore he should be in prison until the request for extradition is received.

", Vaitkevičius' lawyer

Vaitkevičius told representatives of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly that in 2020 he participated in protest demonstrations in Belarus, after which he was arrested for 14 days and tortured in prison.

But, according to the lawyer, the Armenian court ignored all this and decided to arrest him.

Vaitkievichus, who escaped from Belarus, lived and worked in Georgia for quite some time before coming to Yerevan for a concert.

Ani Shatinyan claims that the Belarusian law enforcement officers are using the initiated criminal case as a pretext for punishing a young man with oppositional views, so the Armenian prosecutor's office should not extradite him to Belarus.

"If Armenia makes a decision to extradite Vaitkevicius, it will become a direct accomplice to the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, because there are already clear justifications and claims that the person really fled from violence," the lawyer emphasized.

This is not the first recent case when a citizen of Belarus, who is persecuted by the authorities of this country, has been detained in Armenia.

Earlier, the Belarusian authorities sent a request to Yerevan for the extradition of 24-year-old

.

Novikov also spoke about the persecution in his country, Novikov is also in prison and is waiting for an answer to his statement.

Law enforcement agencies of Belarus also accuse Novikov of evading military service.

They declared him a wanted man, and Armenian law enforcement authorities detained the man at the Armenian-Georgian border.

In prison, he told the employees of the migration service that there were protests in 2020, after which he moved to Georgia.

He said that the term of his stay in Georgia was over, and that is why he decided to go to Armenia.

Novikov said that he is afraid of political persecution if he returns to his homeland.

He also requested political asylum in Armenia.

Meanwhile, the lawyers claim that the courts can leave the young Belarusians free, since they still cannot leave Armenia due to the ban.

According to the press secretary of the migration service of Armenia,

, according to the law, the decision to grant asylum is made within three months.

If the decision is negative, the asylum seeker can appeal it in court.