Artur Finkevich and Aliaksei Ianusheuski Detained in Minsk
On 1 February the police detained the youth activists Artur Finkevich and Aliaksei Ianusheuski on suspicion in having made political graffiti at night of 31January-1 February. According to RFE/RL, they will be kept in jail without charges till 3 February. The detainees have already given explanations to the investigators. The investigators haven’t yet decided whether they would bring a criminal case or compose reports of administrative violation. The law allows them to keep the youngsters in custody for 72 hours. During this time the investigation has to gather enough materials so that the procurator can choose the restraint for the persons who are suspects or accused in criminal case.
Dzmitry Dashkevich, vice-chair of the unregistered organization Dzmitry Dashkevich, vice-chair of the unregistered organization Young Front, thinks the situation of mass media pushes youth to making graffiti, hanging large banners and organize other actions in order to express their opinion:
-- In the conditions when almost all non-state newspapers are closed, people don’t have a place where they could express their views. It’s worth mentioning that such street graffiti appear only in non-democratic countries, where there is no liberty of press.
Several days ago Aliaksei Ianusheuski was remanded from Minsk Pedagogic University. His classmates and a part of lecturers stood for him, but it didn’t help. The official reason is that he missed classes. However, when Aliaksei’s parents came to see the records about the missed classes, the dean refused to show them. Then he also said their son “was involved in a wrong kind of activity”.
