Organizers of Youth Summer Camp Are Fined

On 11 August Brest District Court fined Ihar Maslouski, chair of Brest regional branch of Belarusian Helsinki Committee and Valiantsin Lazarenkau, chair of Brest regional organization of the Free Trade union of Belarus were fined 510 000 rubles for organization of summer camp.

The court considered the case on the basis of the police reports in which the international summer camp that was held in the end of July at Bielaie Voziera recreation place with participation of Belarusian and Ukrainian youth was defined as “unauthorized assembly”. As a result Ihar Maslouski and Valiantsin Lazarenkau were fined. Other persons, mentioned in the police reports (including citizens of the Ukraine) didn’t come to the court.

Ihar Maslouski thinks that the police purposefully composed the reports against him and some other participants of the summer camp:
-- Such actions of the authorities are directed against certain activists of political opposition. When the police entered the hall where we held classes, they immediately called several surnames, including mine. It is clear they executed political order.

Ihar Masouski and Valiantsin Lazarenkau didn’t take the blame and stated they would complain against this verdict. By the way, this year Mr. Lazarenkau has been fined the same sum of money for alleged organization of unauthorized assembly in Brest during a strike of entrepreneurs.