Ales Zarembiuk Detained in Masty

Ales Zarembiuk , activist of the For Freedom movement, was detained in the morning of March 23. He was detained in the apartment of his wife’s relatives, who he visited together with his family. At about 10 a.m. the police headed by chief of public order protection department Mokhan burst into the apartment. They were accompanied by Vaukavysk KGB officer Zhyvushka.

Ales Zarembiuk was charged of “using curse language”. The police took him to a police station to draw up the report. The activist managed to tell Radio Racyja on the phone that he and local councilor Zmitser Kukhlei are accused of allegedly using curse language when speaking to a policeman on March 15.

At the time Ales Zarembiuk was detained, Zmitser Kukhlei was already in court. He had been detained the day before. Before the trial he told Radio Racyja about the incident:

-- I was holding a meeting with my voters, we stood outside and talked. A police officer was walking by. We didn’t notice him at first and continued our conversation. We paid attention to him only when he came real close and started calling for a police car. He used curse language himself while he was on the phone with his colleagues.

On March 22 the police summoned one of the witnesses of the incident, staffer of Masty service of the Ministry for Emergency Situations, and made him write a statement that zarembiuk and Kukhlei used foul language.