Vitebsk CCP Activists Sentenced to 10 Days of Jail

On 24 September Alexander Salawyan and Uladzimer Pleshchanka held an unsanctioned picket. Members of Christian Conservative Party held posters: “Empty polling stations are the best means against fraud”, and “don’t go to the polls – they will cheat anyway”. In an hour the picketers were detained by police.
Special service policemen who took the activists to Chyhunachny police department admitted they had the order to detain the picketers and stop their events.
When they were detained for the first time, on September 20, the police threatened the activists they would be taken to court and tried for holding a street action. After the second detention, on September 22, Uladzimir Pleshchanka was tried immediately and fined almost 3 million BYR (1 400 USD).
The trial after their third detention on September 24 took place right away. Chyhunachny borough court found both CCP members guilty of organizing an unauthorized picket, and sentenced Alexander Salawyan and Uladzimer Pleshchanka to 10 days of arrest.
They will have to serve their sentences in Vitebsk detention center. The police took them to the center right from the police station. Uladzimer Pleshchanka was not even allowed to go home to pick up the necessary medicine, despite his heart problems, reports RFE/RL.