Dziarzhynsk: member of electoral team of Andrei Sannikau detained by police

On 12 October the police detained Aliaksandr Tarnahutski who was collecting signatures in a apartment block. A police car drove up to him when he was standing at the house entrance. The police asked what he had been doing in the house. Mr. Tarnahutski answered that he was collecting signatures in support and Andrei Sannikaua and showed him his passport and certificate of a member of the electoral team. The policemen detained him and decided to draw up a report on absence of a retroreflector.

When Tarnahutski showed them a retroreflector, though it is allowed not to wear it in a housing area, and said he wouldn’t sign the report. They answered they would find two witnesses who would confirm their words, forced the volunteer to get in the car and drove to taxi drivers, who were made to sign the report, after which the activist was released. At the departure they told him to expect a fine of more than 100,000 rubles ($33).

Aliaksandr Tarnahutski is going to file a complaint at theses actions of the local police.

Bear in mind that another member of Sannikau’s team, Illia Shcharbinski, was detained on Sunday, 10 October, while carrying and EU flag to his electoral picket. He was charged with disorderly conduct and fined for the alleged use of obscene language in public.