Ales Ramanovich to be tried

On 9 June, Ales Ramanovich, Pinsk activist of the Belarusian Popular Front Party and the movement For Freedom, was interrogated for about 1.5 hours by a police inspector Andrei Rusin. The KGB officer, who watched the activist during the last several days, was present at the interrogation as well.

Mr. Ramanovich was informed immediately that an administrative case had been instigated against him under Article 22.9 of the Administrative Code, 'violation of the Law On Press and Other Mass Media', which manifested in distribution of unregistered periodicals.

The activist familiarized with the case materials. He disagreed with the accusation and refused to give any explanations. Ales Ramanovich believes that he is simply intimidated: 'The KGB officer who was present at the interrogation that the administrative case can turn into a criminal case on the basis of the things that had been confiscated on 1 April', says the activist.

The trial of Ramanovich's case was scheduled for 14 June.