Leaders of Union of Poles of Belarus under pressure of secret services
Teresa Silivonchyk, head of the Baranavichy branch of the unrecognized by the authorities Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB), received a warning from the prosecutor’s office about criminal responsibility for activity in an unregistered organization.
According to ndrzej Poczobut, member of the council of the organization and journalist of Gazeta Wyborcza, it hasn’t been the first case when the authorities decided to use notorious article 193-1 of the Criminal Code against members of the Union of Poles in Belarus, Radio Racyja reports.
As Andrzej Poczobut says, activists of the Union of Poles are pressed openly all over the country in order to make them leave this organization. People are called in for conversations in the KGB, the Ministry of Internal Affaires, where they are warned about criminal prosecution if they take part in a session of the organization, scheduled for March 14-15. The KGB spreads anonymous messages, also via Internet, blaming the famous UPB figures.
It is not the first attempt of pressure upon members of the Union of Poles. Last week, provocative leaflets appeared in the Hrodna district, asking the Belarusian Poles to back the UPB session on March 14-15 on behalf of the head of the disgraced Union.
Doors of A. Poczubut’s apartment have recently been damaged by unknown people, who also left a note with threats. His daughter repeatedly received telephone calls from unknown people.
