Minsk activists sentenced to short prison terms for displaying white-red-white flags

The Court of Minsk Partyzanski district considered today the cases of three activists of the Alternatyva opposition campaign, Aleh Korban, Zmitser Silchanka and Aleh Keral, who were detained on Friday while displaying the national white-red-white flags on a bridge near the Partyzanskaya metro station.

The action was staged to mark the 23th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Belarus’ Independence. The activists were pushed into police buses. Plainclothes policemen also detained Nasha Niva photographer Siarhei Hudzilin, BelaPAN reporters Zakhar Shcharbakou and Andrei Korsak, as well as civil society activist Volha Burnevich, who were eventually released the same evening without charges.

The activists were taken to the detention center to spend the weekend there and stood trial on charges of disorderly conduct (Art. 17.1 of the Administrative Code).

As a result, all of them were found guilty and sentenced to five days of administrative arrest each.