Observer thrown into jail for two days and fined

Ales Taustyka, an agent of local council candidate Ales Lahvinets, was fined 175,000 rubles on April 26.

Ales Taustyka, detained in the evening April 24 at a Minsk polling station, was accused of disorderly conduct. “They said I turned down all ballot boxes and, I beg your pardon, urinated in every corner of the ballot station,” the agent said about his accusation.

Ales Taustyka was detained in the evening April 24 at polling station #27 (school #35 in Minsk) of constituency #30, where Ales Lahvinets ran in the elections. At about 6:50 p.m., two people went to a polling booth. Taustyka politely told the commission chairperson that the actions were illegal.

At 5:06, Ales Lahvinets phoned the Central Election Commission and demanded to give explanations on the incident. Some minutes later head of the district election commission Aksana Kakarova entered the room and accused Ales Taustyka of violating the public order and called for a militia squad.

At about 6:30 p.m., a report on disorderly conduct was drawn up against Ales Taustyka. The candidate’s agent was guarded to the jail in Akrestsin Street.

Ales Taustyka stayed in jail from evening April 24 to morning April 26.