Image credit: The TV channel Belarus One.
MINSK, 19 September (BelTA) – Yuri Zenkovich was sentenced to 11 years in prison in September 2022 for organizing a conspiracy for the sake of seizing government power in Belarus. During the film “Murderous conspiracy. Target: Lukashenko” aired by the TV channel Belarus One Yuri Zenkovich asked Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko to pardon him, BelTA has learned.
Yuri Zenkovich expects that he will not stay in prison for the duration of his sentence. “I am a U.S. citizen but since summer 2021 I have not heard anything about representatives of the United States of America that have tried to contact me. As far as I understand, Biden’s administration has done absolutely nothing about it over the 3.5 years.”
Asked whether representatives of U.S. security agencies had approached him with cooperation proposals, Yuri Zenkovich said that three people had approached him once. Two showed FBI identification documents. The third one was a CIA employee, Yuri Zenkovich believes. “I invited them to the conference hall where we met with clients. They initially told me they have information that I work for the KGB. I said I didn’t. Are you ready to pass a lie detector test? I said I will take it if necessary. What are your thoughts about a proposal to work for the government? I asked: the U.S. government? They said yes,” he remarked.
Yuri Zenkovich described what he had tried to accomplish 3.5 years ago as a mistake. Apart from that, he added that the lack of managerial experience among the conspirators would have been detrimental to preventing the country from getting involved in the military conflict that is ablaze in Ukraine now. “None of us had the experience of conducting negotiations that is on par with Lukashenko’s experience. In the last two years Aleksandr Lukashenko did brilliant work to prevent Belarus from getting involved in the war. There is no doubt it is a plus for him and I am not ashamed of saying it although everyone knows that I am critical of the current government. But I always give proper credit to my adversaries. In this case Aleksandr Lukashenko has done very good work. If we had risen to power, I am almost certain we would have failed at preventing Belarus’ involvement in the war,” he is convinced.
The only way to prevent shells from exploding in a country is to keep peace in the state and avoid any international and domestic conflicts, Yuri Zenkovich believes. “This is why I once again admit guilt. I ask Aleksandr Grigoryevich Lukashenko to forgive me for what I’ve tried to do. I’d like to use the occasion and address him with a request to pardon me and allow me to return to the family and friends in the United States of America. To return to my professional activity. Since I am a U.S. citizen, I’d like to address the U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump and ask them to facilitate my speedy return to the United States of America. To the city of Houston, Texas where my family has been living till today,” Yuri Zenkovich said.
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