PROTEST

Belarus Activist Stabs Himself in Throat in Court

Stepan Latypov said he had been tortured and his family was threatened by authorities.

Pandemonium erupted in a Belarus courtroom on Tuesday as an opposition activist stabbed himself in the throat with a pen after telling the court he had been tortured and his family threatened, The New York Times reported. Stepan Latypov survived the apparent suicide attempt in Minsk and was hospitalized in stable condition. He was arrested last year for protecting a mural in his apartment courtyard that was put up to protest President Alexander Lukashenko’s dubious claim of another election victory. Latypov—one of thousands of protesters swept up in a brutal crackdown—testified that he was told that if he did not plead guilty, his relatives and neighbors would also be prosecuted.