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.

Today, on 5 March, the judge of Tsentralny district court of Minsk Tatsiana Pauliuchuk sentenced him to five days of jail.

Bear in mind that Maksim Siarhiyets, together with Yuliya Subach and the minor Matvei Bialiai are also suspects in the criminal case that was brought on 28 December 2007 under article 339, part 2 of the Criminal Code – ‘act of hooliganism, performed by a group of individuals’. The case concerns damage done to two police cars during the democratic rally European March.