Detention of activists of United Civil Party

On 8 September the police detained the activists of the United Civil party Natallia Shchukina and Alexander Protska. They were handing out leaflets with the appeal to citizens not to take part in the parliamentary elections.

The text contains excerpts from the Constitution and the Electoral Code of the Republic of Belarus: ‘The voter decides independently whether he or she wants to take part in the vote and for whom to vote’. A quote of A.Lukashenka at a press-conference on 23 November 2006 was printed there as well: ‘The last election was rigged by us…’

A representative of the administration of the Soviet district Anatol Zabiyaka neared the activists. He asked a leaflet to read. And in 10 minutes police patrol arrived and took Protska and Shchukina to a police department, RFE/RL informs.

The leaflets handed out by Protska and Shchukina were printed by the head of the UCP regional branch Vasil Paliakou. He denied taking part in the elections as a candidate for deputy of Homel Soviet constituency #34 because the regime hasn’t fulfilled the conditions of the democratic forces, and primarily – because they refused democratic activists’ participation in district elections commissions.