Fines for white-red-white flags

Simultaneously with the trial of the criminal case against Siarhei Kavalenka in Vitsebsk, the Kastrychnitski District Court of Minsk considered the administrative cases against the Young Front activists Yulyan Misiukeivch and Uladzimir Yaromenka.

In the morning, the guys hanged out white-red-white flags near the Kastrychnitskaya Square and opposite the Presidential Administration to mark the anniversary of the disgraceful referendum on returning the Soviet symbols and express solidarity with Siarhei Kavalenka, a Vitsebsk activist who was tried for hanging out a white-red-white flag on the main New Year tree of Vitsebsk on 7 January.

The Belarusian law-machinery continues qualifying some political actions as ‘disorderly conduct’, as it happened to Kavalenka and, predictably enough, to the detained Young Front activists. The court found them guilty under Article 17.1. As a result, Yulyan Misiukevich was fined 1,050,000 rubles (about $352) and Uladzimir Yaromenka – 525,000 rubles (about $176).