02.05.2008 1 May action brings detentions and arrests

About 30 activists of the civil campaign European Belarus were detained yesterday near the National Library in Minsk suburb Uruccha where pro-regime trade unions were celebrating May Day. Among the detained are Yauhen Afnahel, Andrei Babitski, Zmitser Barodka, the Young Front leaders Zmitser Dashkevich, Artur Finkevich, Zmitser Khvedaruk, and chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) Mikola Statkevich.

07.04.2008 Parsiukevich to be tried 16 October

As the BelaPAN information agency was informed by the lawyer Vera Stramkouskaya, the legal proceedings in the case of the entrepreneur Siarhei Parsiukevich will start 16 October. The case will be tried by the judge Uladzimir Audzeyenka. The case was passed to the court 31 March.

07.04.2008 Participant of 25 March action has broken rib

Doctors of Minsk hospital #3 diagnosed Andrei Babitski, activist of the civil campaign European Belarus, with ‘closed displaced fracture of eighth rib’. The youth activist and dozens of other participants of the demonstration on 25 March were beaten up brutally by riot policemen. Emergency brigade, called to the Savetski district police department, refused to help the oppositionist.

04.04.2008 Amnesty International: Demonstrators beaten during Freedom Day march

Amnesty International condemns the reportedly excessive use of force by Belarusian security forces against demonstrators who had gathered in the capital, Minsk, on 25 March 2008. Up to two thousand people had gathered in a square in the centre of the city to mark the ninetieth anniversary of the short-lived independence of Belarus in 1918, which is now referred to by the political opposition as Freedom Day. The authorities had not sanctioned the demonstration and President Alexander Lukashenka’s government had vowed to prevent any public action to mark the occasion.

01.04.2008 Amnesty International condemns beatings at Freedom Day celebration

The international human rights organization has issued an official note concerning the events of 25 March in Minsk.

11.03.2008 Siarhei Parsiukevich Confronted to ‘Police Victim’

Yesterday the activist of entrepreneurs’ movement Siarhei Parsiukevich was visited by his lawyer Vera Stramkouskaya.

07.03.2008 Siarhei Parsiukevich Left in Jail

The leader of Vitsebsk individual entrepreneurs Siarhei Parsiukevich is to stay in the pre-trial prison in Valadarski Street, Minsk. The decision to uphold the measure of restraint, arrest, has been taken by the prosecutor’s office of Maskouski district of Minsk.

06.03.2008 Cost of Domestic Violence in Belarus

On 8 March the Belarusian women are given flowers and listen to congratulations, but during the rest of the year not all of them feel save even at home. What is the cost of the economic damage from domestic violence?

05.03.2008 Maksim Siarhiyets Arrested for Five Days

In the evening of 4 March, the official Police Day, Siarhiyets and two his friends were detained in a trolleybus for having posted a sticker inviting people to the meeting in honor of the Freedom Day, 25 March, when the Belarusian People’s Republic was declared. Maksim’s friends were soon let go, while he was left in custody till trial. During the interrogation the policemen insulted and beat the detainees.

30.01.2008 Police beat opposition youths in Salihorsk

Opposition youths are reported to have been beaten up by police in Salihorsk, Minsk region, on Wednesday over a demonstration staged in protest against increasing crackdown on individual entrepreneurs.

29.01.2008 Siarhei Parsiukevich beaten in Akrestsina jail

Yesterday Siarhei Parsiukevich, an entrepreneur from Vitebsk, was released from Minsk Akrestsina jail. Parsiukevich was arrested on January 10th. He says, last Monday he was beaten by a police officer. Forensim medical examination confirms, Parsiukevich has numerous bruises and injuries on his body. According to the victim, he also had marks of him being strangled, but they disappeared after a week.

Parsiukevich has asthma and a chronic stomach disease. He says he still did not apply to the law-enforcing bodies about his beating. He says he is too weak for that. The police officer who beat Parsiukevich accused the prisoner of attacking him. At that moment the prosecutor’s office is checking the facts.

On February 4th Parsiukevich is to come to Minsk to another conversation with the investigators.

18.01.2008 Riot police beat young people in court

Zmitser Fedaruk was beaten brutally when detained in Centralny court of Minsk. He left the court of the Central district together with other visitors. Yesterday the youth activists detained on 16 January, the Solidarity Day, were tried there. When leaving the court, Fedaruk was knocked down by seven police officers and thrown into a police car. He struck his head against the floor of the car, but his legs were outside, and then the policemen began to shove him into the car

14.01.2008 Details of Beatings after Entrepreneurs’ Actions

All arrested participants of the protest rally against the economic policy of the government towards small business in Belarus held on January 10 in Minsk have been taken to Akrestsin Street prison.

14.01.2008 EU Condemns Arrests of Protesters

The Council of the European Union condemns the crackdown on the entrepreneurs’ demonstration, arrests and using force towards the protesters. Christina Gallach, spokeswoman of the EU High Commissioner for Foreign Policy and Security, said it. ‘We condemn arrests and sentences to the people detained. We regard each of them as politically motivated one,’ the spokeswoman said.

11.01.2008 List of Persons Detained at Meeting of Entrepreneurs in Minsk

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