Siarhei Skrabiets' case is handed over to the investigator for especially important cases of the Republican Procurator's Office Viachaslau Tserakhovich.

According to the deputy Procurator General of Belarus Mikalai Kuprianau, both criminal cases against Siarhei Skrabiets, an active oppositionist, a former deputy and leader of the deputy faction Republic, and united into one.

In April 2003 the first case initiated against Siarhei Skrabiets accused him of swindling the state out of credits and organizing a criminal group when he was head of the Trading Company BelBabaieuski. In May 2005 he was accused of preparing for a crime and bribery.

Skrabiets was detained in Minsk on 15 May and immediately taken to Brest investigative center, where he immediately declared a hunger-strike. This is how he protests against the arrest and accusations that he believes are ungrounded, reports Radio Liberty.