Dashkevich, Pushkin… authorities start provocations against opposition activists
Zmitser Dashkevich
The artist and political
activist Ales Pushkin was detained at 3.45 p.m. in his house in the settlement
of Bobr of the Pukhavichy district.
As said by his wife, short before the detention their house was visited by a
local tramp who tried to provoke a fight. Soon after he went away a police
patrol headed by Major Andrei Andreikau arrived. The policemen stated they have
received an application alleging that Pushkin had started a fight.
As a result the artist was arrested and taken away by the police car. At 4.20
p.m. the duty policeman of the Pukhavichy District Police Department said over
the phone that Pushkin hadn’t been brought to them yet.
His wife has no doubts that the police staged a provocation against her husband
and reminds that he was sentenced to 15 days of arrest in the similar
circumstanced during the previous presidential election and was deprived of the
opportunity to take part in actions of protest.
The leader of the Young Front Dzmitry
Dashkevich was detained in the evening of 8 December while driving his car. The
road police guarded him to the Pershamaiski District Police Department of
Minsk. The Deputy Chairperson of the Young
Front Nasta Palazhanka received sms-message from him. According to it, he
was told that his name was absent in the electronic database of drivers and he
must have forged his driver’s license.
These ‘strange cases’ aren’t that strange – the Belarusian authorities seem to
begin an electoral clear-up, as usual.
Human Rights Defenders for Free Elections
