Mahiliou Activists Hold Actions in Support of Kazulin

Mahiliou activists held a number of pickets and a rally in support of Alexander Kazulin. The actions’ participants demanded immediate release of the former presidential candidate Alexander Kazulin and implement the demands of the democratic opposition before the local election.

According to RFE/RL, Mahiliou city authorities permitted pickets and a rally on the outskirts of the city. The actions organizers (Mahiliou branches of Belarusian Social Democratic Party “Hramada”, United Civic Party and Party of Communists of Belarus) had to pay 250, 000 BYR to cover the police, medical, and communal services.

The pickets and rally were held in the afternoon under strict control of the police and strangers in plain clothes. On the eve of the rally police detained Ihar Shynkaryk, deputy chairperson of UCP, and Anatol Paulau, UCP board member. The police officers were interested in the party flags and took away their drivers’ licenses for examination which lasted right till the end of the rally.

Meanwhile, Mahiliou residents who gathered for the rally listened to the speeches of Anatol Liaukovich, Aliaksei Karol, Siarhei Kaliakin and other well-known politicians, wife of the former presidential candidate Iryna Kazulina, local activists and rock-musicians. Youth activists walked in the crowd and proposed the participants to sign a petition in support of Kazulin. They also urged the rally participants to write letters to the political prisoner. The rally ended with a passed resolution denouncing the crimes of the regime. Yuras Novikau, local Social Democrat and one of the rally organizers thinks such actions should be held regularly. “The authorities should know that the people do not agree with the tyranny”, -- he said.