Activists of ‘European Belarus’ detained for hanging out anti-nuclear banner at Astravets’ entrance

On 9 October a banner was hung out at the entrance to the town of Astravets where the public consultations on construction of a nuclear power plant in Belarus took place.

The banner depicted a caricature of Aliaksandr Lukashenka playing table hockey and an inscription ‘Stop. Nuclear Plant not a Toy’.

Activists of the civil campaign European Belarus Uladzimir Lemesh and Maxim Serhiyets were detained by the police for hanging out the banner. The young people had to spend more than three hours in a police department allegedly for identity-verification. A questioning report was drawn up against them, and one of the activists was seized a memory card.

A document titled ‘Report on Environmental Impact Assessment’ is being discussed in Belarus for a month. According to the International Espoo convention, signed and ratified by Belarus, this report must be discussed by the public. Officials hope this discussion in Astravets will satisfy international organizations and the neighboring countries, where the EIA report was sent to. However, experts think the EIA report has errors, contradictions and lacks a real assessment of the environmental impact of the nuclear plant itself and its radioactive waste.