Homel: Youth Activist Askana Serhienka Declares Hunger Strike of Protest
On 1 May in Homel the police detained the youth activist Aksana Serhienka for handing out fly-sheets in which it was said that the contract system of employment violated the workers’ rights. In the police report it was stated that she behaved antisocially, disobeyed to the police claims and the fly-sheets had no imprint.
On 6 May, during the trial, A.Serhienka asked friends and relatives not to pass to her food parcels in the case she would be sentenced to arrest. Before the announcement of the verdict she said to a correspondent of www.belngo.info that to her mind the court considered her case non-objectively. Even among the police witnesses the judge Maryna Tamnenka listened only to the testimonies against Aksana. For instance, she ignored the remark of one of the policemen that he didn’t hear the girl swearing.
On 10 May the deputy Iury Hlushakou and Aksana’s father, paid a visit to the detention center where the girl is serving her 15-day arrest term. The guards returned to father everything he wanted to pass to his daughter, even mineral water and showed to him the statement by A.Serhienka, in which she refused from food parcels. They also informed him that she declared a hunger-strike.
20-year-old Aksana Serhienka is a master of sports and has many times represented Belarus at international competitions. In March she was sentenced to 4 days of jail for participation in the tent camp in Kastrychnitskaia Square of Minsk. This time she was sentenced to 15 days of jail.
