Hrodna oblast: police continue harassment of Anatol Valiuk

Anatol Valiuk, political activist and head of the Belarusian Popular Front party of Svislach town (the Hrodna oblast), is persecuted by local police.

On November 2, when the Day of Memory of Insurgents of 1863 was marked in Svislach and the region, Anatol Valiuk was detained late at night when cycling home.

The activist was detained near his house and was guarded to a local police station with his bicycle. He was offered to sign a report on allegedly administrative offence and was threatened with administrative arrest. Anatol Valiuk refused to sign the report and was guarded home.

After some days, a district police officer came to Valiuk and suggested to go to a police department. Anatol Valiuk demanded that they abided by the law and gave them an official writ. On getting it Valiuk came to the police department where deputy chief of the department Salahubik fined him of 35 000 rubles (about $15). The public activist was accused of being drunk and wearing untidy cloths in the city center on 2 November. Anatol Valiuk denied flatly this far-fetched and absurd accusation.

Human rights from Hrodna report that this story was continued on Saturday, 8 November, when policemen armed with assault riffles burst into Valiuk’s house. They said they had been called by that address. After policemen found out they were mistaken, they went away. Anatol Valiuk thinks these actions are a planned long-term action of his persecution by the local authorities.

It should be reminded that Anatol Valiuk was repeatedly arrested and persecuted by Svislach police ahead of important public and political events for the last years.