Oppositionist in Vitsebsk sentenced in his absence to 7 days of incarceration
An activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Party Ales Halavan’ has received the decision of the court by post.
Ales Halavan told about that to charter97.org website.
The BCD activists Ales Halavan and Valery Ramanenka were detained in Vitsebsk on January 15 in the morning and taken to police department of Pershamajski district. Halavan was detained near a polyclinic s, which he visited because of pneumonia, and Ramanenka was arrested near the entrance of his house. 4 white-red-white flags were seized from them. Ramanenka was also charged with shouting “Long live Belarus!” during the detention. However in the result to avoid political undertones of the case, the young people were charged with “being drunk in a public place”.
The oppositionists spent 3 days before the trial under arrest, and demanded lawyers at the trial. The trial was postponed till February 2. However Ales Halavan could not be present at the process on that day. He was to have exams in Warsaw University, and he told the judge about that. The trial in his case was postponed for an indefinite time. And finally the trial was held in absence of the oppositionist. He hadn’t been informed about the date. And now the oppositionist is to spend in prison 3 more days.
The oppositionists connect their arrests to being acquainted with Syarhei Kavalenka, an activist of the Conservatiev Christian Party Belarusian Popular Front, who on January 7 placed a white-red-white flag on the main Christmas tree of the city, and is under criminal investigation now. After that arrests and searches in flats of oppositionists started in Vitsebsk.
