Kanavalaw wanted to "change government", interrogation records say

Dzmitry Kanavalaw wanted to destabilize the situation in the country for the purpose of "changing the government", according to the records of the interrogations of the suspected perpetrator of the April 11 subway bombing and a number of other attacks.

The records were read out in court on Thursday after Mr. Kanavalaw refused to speak during the trial that opened in Minsk on September 15.

At one of his interrogations, Mr. Kanavalaw said that he had made the decision in 2008 to destabilize the situation and sow fear in society, which he noted he needed to change the government.

When asked why he had not joined a political group instead to press for the change in a constitutional way, Mr. Kanavalaw replied that if he had done so, he would have been quickly caught, explaining that security services usually targeted opposition activists following "such incidents".

Replying to a question about the bomb attack during an open-air Independence Day concert in Minsk in July 2008, Mr. Kanavalaw said that he had aimed to hurt as many people as possible but had not wanted them to be killed. Around 5o people were injured in the bomb explosion.

Mr. Kanavalaw added that he hoped that he would not be caught.

At the court session on Thursday, Judge Alyaksandr Fedartsow of the Supreme Court finished hearing the records of Mr. Kanavalaw`s interrogations and the questioning of victims began.