B8’s LastHero released by Belarus police after 3 day arrest

Update: LastHero has been released and is safely home.

After several days without contact B8 has now reported that their Offlaner LastHero has been released from detention.

Lasthero выпустили. Он сейчас дома.

Lasthero was released. He is at home now.

— B8 (@B8esportsGG) August 13, 2020

The player himself also thanked the community for the support he received and confirmed his safety. He also said that he would share more details on the last couple of days going forward.

Всем привет!
Огромнейшее спасибо за вашу теплоту и поддержку!
Физически посложнее,в психологическом плане в порядке!
в ближайшее время расскажу максимально корректно как и что происходило за эти три дооолгих дня,stay tuned…

— Lasthero_dota2 (@l457last) August 13, 2020

While LastHero’s release is a great relief, the protests in Belarus are still ongoing.

Original article from August 13:

The current protests in Belarus are also affecting the esports scene. Resident Belarusian Offlaner LastHero from Team B8 has reportedly been detained by the police.

While B8 would have liked nothing more to focus on their remaining matches in the OMEGA League, politics have caught up with the team founded by Dota 2 legend Danil “Dendi” Ishutin.

As unrest and protests have begun to flare up in the wake of Belarus’ disputed election, access to the internet has become unstable in the East European country. On August 10 B8 were forced to play with two stand-ins on their opening match against Cyberium Seed on August 10 as neither Oleg “LastHero” Demidovich or Dimitry “Fishman” Polishchuk could play.

We’ll play today’s match against Cyberium Seed with stand-ins due to problems with the Internet connection in Belarus. @Ghostikdota and y0nd will play instead of @l457last and @FishmanDota2.#b8d

— B8 (@B8esportsGG) August 10, 2020

LastHero is detained by the police

On August 12 things took a turn for the worse as the team lost contact with LastHero. He was last seen at Victory Square in Minsk with a couple of friends. According to eyewitnesses there were no violent protests there. At around 19:00 police officers approached LastHero and his friends and detained them for reasons unknown.

B8’s other player from Belarus, Fishman, tried contacting him in vain and current information stems from one of LastHero’s friends who has been released already. Apparently LastHero is being held in a preliminary detention facility in Zhodino near Minsk, but B8 has been unable to establish communications with him.

If you have any additional information about Oleg’s exact location or condition, please let us know.

dota2@b8esports.gg

At the moment, all the information we know is set out below. pic.twitter.com/JOsYrfvKhd

— B8 (@B8esportsGG) August 12, 2020

The organisation is asking that any additional information regarding their player to be sent to Dota2@B8esports.gg.

Other prominent Belarusian Dota 2 players like Nikita “Palantimos” Grinkevich have also been affected by the political unrest since election day August 9.

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Image Credit: B8