Kazulin to be tried for using obscene language near Supreme Court

Well-known politician Aliaksandr Kazulin, detained yesterday near the Supreme Court, will stand trial for alleged usage of obscene language there. The trial is scheduled for 11 a.m. on 12 May at the Leninski District Court of Minsk.

Bear in mind, that yesterday Kazulin and many other people came to the Supreme Court to hear the verdict on the criminal case against Mikalai Autukhovich, Uladzimir Asipenka, Mikhail Kazlou and Aliaksandr Laryn, and express solidarity with the political prisoners. Mr. Kazulin was a presidential candidate in 2006, and spent 2,5 years behind bars on politically motivated charges.

Aliaksandr Kazulin: ‘We are charged with violation of public order, shouting, expressing dissatisfaction with the court verdict and ‘used obscene expressions’. It is stated that when the police made a remark about it, we started using even more obscene language.’

According to the politician, he was detained on the way home, at the crossing of the Lenin and Marx streets. The detention was deliberate, as Kazulin was pulled out of a group of people who walked near him. The riot police silently pulled the politician in a paddy wagon, without answering the demands to explain the reasons for the detention.

Mr. Kazulin says that the policemen didn’t beat him. ‘I wasn’t beaten, but the youngsters who were pulled there after me, were. Yaramionak suffered quite a bit. They stopped the beating only when I rushed towards him. Before this, he was thrown down on the floor and kicked in the ribs.’