Vitsebsk: Barys Khamaida detained again
Vitsebsk
activist, distributor of independent press Barys Khamaida was taken
to the Chyhunachny District Police Department of Vitsebsk, allegedly
for unauthorized picketing. However, he was released without getting
any charges.
Barys Khamaida says he distributed the
independent press in the center of Vitsebsk as usual, and there were
no signs of unauthorized picketing in his actions:
"As
always, I stood under a white-red-white umbrella. The newspapers and
magazines laid. There was an embroidery – the words of the prayer
“Our Father” made with red threads on a white cloth – a gift
from Antanina Pivanos. Everything was as usual, and I wasn't
explained what seemed illegal to the policemen. At the poilce station
my personal information was put down, but no charges were brought.
The police captain who had deatained me earlier came out and said
that I was free and could go.”
Barys Khamaida remembered
that he had been detained last in September 2012, when he agitated
for the election boycott, holding a poster. He was fined 2 million
rubles for unauthorized picketing at that time.
However,
since that time there were cases in Vitsebsk when the detainees
received charges with a delay, and were summonsed to the police and
to the court after some time.
For Mr. Khamaida the trials for
the pickets are not a novelty: he has been repeatedly detained near
the so-called “blue house” in Lenin Street, where he distributes
independent press. He was also punished with fines for going out to
the street with posters, or just for drawing the attention of
passers-by as a distributor of independent press. Mr. Khamaida
considers himself innocent. He is sure that restrictions of the right
to express one's views, receive and impart information violate the
rights of Belarusian citizens.
