News on the topic: political parties & movements
12.11.2007 18 Months of Corrective Labor for Seminar in Poland
An activist of the Belarusian Popular Front Party, a teacher from the village of Talka Natallia Illinich was tried for ‘instigation for falsification of documents’ and sentenced to 18 months of corrective labor with paying 20% of salary to the state.
12.11.2007 Homel: Police Confiscate Appeals to Authorities
At 12.30 a.m. in Homel the police detained the UCP activists Vasil Paliakou and Ihar Sluchak. They were taken to a police station. There the police questioned the detainees and exacted from them 1,5 thousand appeals to deputies.
12.11.2007 Vaukavysk: Authorities Try to Disrupt Assembly of BPF Party
On 11 November in Vaukavysk an assembly of the BPF Party for nomination of delegates to the upcoming General Assembly of the party took place. The assembly was attended by the BPF chairman Vintsuk Viachorka, his deputy Ales Mikhalevich, the chair of Hrodna BPF office Siarhei Malchyk, the chair of Vaukavysk BPF office Mikalai Kalalchuk and a member of the BPF council Uladzimir Kishkurna.
09.11.2007 Yaraslau Hryshchenia Has Spine Fracture
Now Yaraslau Hryshchenia is in Dziarzhynsk hospital. The ambulance drove him there together with the driver of the minibus by which Hryshchenia was going to Baranavichy. The road was covered with ice. The car was running at 90km/h. Not far from Dziarzhynsk the car slipped to the median strip and then fell into a ditch.
09.11.2007 Mahiliou: Police Detaine Hanna Illina and Maryna Nestserava
On 8 November in the center of Mahiliou the police detained two girls. The policemen explained the detention by saying that the girls looked like the robbers who had stolen a mobile phone. During the detention Maryna Nestserava was holding leaflets with information about a new criminal case against a Young Front leader Zmitser Dashkevich.
09.11.2007 Shklou: Trial of Dashkevich Ends with Fine
In spring 2007 a leader of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich, who is still serving his 18-month prison term under article 193.1 of the Criminal Code (activities on behalf of unregistered organization) refused to testify in a criminal case against another Young Front member, Ivan Shyla, who received the same charges. As a result of this refusal the authorities brought another criminal case against Dashkevich to intimidate him. The second criminal case was brought under article 402 of the Criminal Code ‘Refusal or evasion of witness from testifying’. The maximal punishment under this article is 6 months of jail.
08.11.2007 Trial of Zmitser Dashkevich Postponed to 9 November
On 6 November the trial of the leader of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich started in Shklou prison. At present Dashkevich is serving 18-month term for ‘activities on behalf of unregistered organization’ (article 193.1 of the Criminal Code). The criminal case that is being considered now has been brought against Dashkevich in August 2007 for refusal to testify against another member of the Young Front, Ivan Shyla, who was also charged with violation of article 193.1.
08.11.2007 Belarusian Helsinki Committee Demands Investigation of Fight at Social March
On 4 November when the Social March demonstration crossed Yakub Kolas and Surhanau Streets in Minsk, a group of young people in black (about 50 persons) separated from the column and put up a fight in the traffic area. Many of them were chanting fascist slogans.
08.11.2007 Salihorsk: Ivan Shyla Faces New Criminal Case?
The youth activist Ivan Shyla was detained on 7 November, during a picket in the main square of Salihorsk. Together with him the police detained several other action participants. While the district officials were lying flowers to the monument of Lenin seven persons unrolled the transparency ‘Put Communism to Tribunal’. The action lasted for 15 seconds only.
08.11.2007 Chair of Hrodna City Office of United Civil Party Fired
43-year-old Zmitser Slutski, chair of Hrodna city office of the United Civil Party, has been fired. The reason was that he missed some days of work because of the five-day arrest.
05.11.2007 Niasvizh: Police Detain ‘Young Front’ Activists for Celebrating Vitushka’s Birthday
On 5 November in Niasvizh the police detained the activists of the Young Front Zmitser Banko, Illia and Ivan Shylas and Krystsina Samoylava. Later, near the district police department, they also seized the Young Front member Andrei Tychyna.
05.11.2007 Tsentralny Court of Homel Upholds Zhaleznichenka’s Expulsion from University
On 5 November the judge of Tsentralny court of Homel Alena Tsalkova turned up the complaint of the expelled third-year student of the mathematical faculty of Homel State University Zmitser Zhaleznichenka.
05.11.2007 Vintsuk Viachorka Detained on the Way to BPF Assembly in Hrodna
On 4 November the chair of the Belarusian People’s Front Party Vintsuk Viachorka was going to Hrodna to take part in the assembly of the BPF organizations of Hrodna district. On the way there the road police groundlessly detained the car by which he was driven to Hrodna. They explained the reasons for the detention with some ‘order’.
05.11.2007 Authorities Proceed from Bans to Provocations
Organizers of the Social March have summed up the results of the rally that took place on 4 November. ‘The authorities have broken away from bans and have proceeded to provocations. To use force against people who offer a dialogue is immoral. Moreover, the regime depends on the European economic programs, foreign credits today, and it’s the second reason why the regime has given up such hard line methods of communication with protesters as a paddy wagon and truncheon blows on the head,’ told the deputy chairman of the Belarusian People’s Front party Viktar Ivashkevich.
05.11.2007 Police Do Not Let Regional Activists to Minsk for Social March
On the eve of the Social March, similarly to any opposition rally, policemen blocked access to Minsk for regional opposition activists. ‘Policemen in mufti tried to enter my apartment on 4 November in the morning. I didn’t open the doors to them. They were continually standing near my house till 2 p.m., when the Social March ended in Minsk. They asked neighbors about me. I even couldn’t go shopping,’ said a democratic activist from Barysau Zmitser Barodka.
