Bialynichy: Zubr Activist Aleh Miatselitsa Gets Arrested for Another 15 Days on Release from 15-day Arrest

According to RFE/RL

In the evening of 3 March the activist of Zubr movement Aleh Miatselitsa was to have come out of the detention center in Akrestsin St. He was serving there the 15-day arrest to which he was sentenced for participation in the Solidarity Day action on 16 February. His friend came to the gate of the detention center, but Mr Miatselitsa didn’t walk out. The policemen said they had released him several hours before. Aleh Miatselitsa didn’t answer on his cellular phone for several hours, and his wife, who waited for him in the town of Bialynichy (Miatselitsa’s place of residence) was getting anxious. When she came to the town’s police station, she saw there her husband - the police brought him there from Minsk. Natallia Miatselitsa, Aleh’s wife, is a lawyer and is sure that such case is unprecedented: the police has never brought prisoners home after the arrest, the more that the distance is 150 kilometers.

According to witnesses, Aleh Miatselitsa was let out of the police station through the back door. As soon as he came out, two persons in plain clothes came up to him and fell down on the ground. The police ran towards Miatselitsa and said they would against need to compose a report for petty hooliganism.

On 4 March, Saturday, the police brought to the police station the judge Uladzimir Huz, despite the fact that Saturdays and Sundays are day-offs work courts. He tried Mr Miatselitsa behind the closed doors and sentenced him to another 15 days of jail. Natallia Miatselitsa took part in the trial as the defense lawyer for her husband. She gave the following commentary: ‘I am indignant at the actions of the authorities. We have two children - 12-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son. My husband will be away from home for a month. They didn’t even let him come home. What are the authorities that fear one man?’