Members of Union of Poles are detained again

The continuation of the trial on confiscation of the Polish House in the town of Ivianets  was scheduled for 2.30 p.m. on 17 February in the Valozhyn district court. The trial is initiated by the authorities and is aimed at passing the Polish House to the pro-regime Union of Poles, governed by businessman Stanislau Siamashka.

According to information of Anzhalika Borys, Chairperson of the other Belarusian Union of Poles, the one that is not recognized by the authorities, several members of her organization are gong to come to the trial to support Teresa Sobal, Head of the Polish House in Ivianets. According to preliminary information, the trial will be also attended by officers of some EU Embassies and Maciej Plazhynski, Chairperson of the Wspulnota Polska NGO, or the financial means of which the UPB had bought the property that is being confiscated by the state.

The first court sitting took place on 15 February. More than 40 members of the disgraced UPB were arrested on the way to Valozhyn.

On 12.40 a.m. Anzhalika Borys and eight other UPB members were detained on the way to Valozhyn. Anzhalika Borys and two other women were detained near the town of Lida and guarded to the Lida district police department. Anzhalika managed to go out and continued her travel to Valozhyn by hitchhiking.

Five more UPB activists were detained near Valozhyn.

2.40 p.m. More than 50 members of the disgraced UPB were going to Valozhyn. However, more than 20 of them were detained at the entrance of Valozhyn, including Anzhalika Borys who was guarded to the village of Babrovichy, five kilometers from Valozhyn. The trial was attended by representatives of the Polish Embassy and Maciej Plazhynski, Chairperson of the Wspulnota Polska NGO, or the financial means of which the UPB had bought the property that is being confiscated by the state. Other interested persons (mostly citizens of Valozhyn, Ivianets and the settlements that are close to them) were admitted to the trial as well.