Navapolatsk: three civil activists detained, one of them – fined for “using obscene language”

At 7 p.m. on 11 May the police detained three Navapolatsk activists, Illia Bahdanau, Viktar Kalesnik and Yauhen Parchynski, and guarded them to the Navapolatsk Town Police Department.

The detainees were required to give written explanations concerning their activities during the last few hours. According to the policemen, somebody posted leaflets with portraits of political prisoners all over the town.

Two of the detainees were released after spending more than three hours at the police department. Viktar Kalesnik, however, was left there for the night on charges in using obscene language in public.

In the morning he was guarded to the court. The police witnesses failed to come to the trial. The activist was proposed to either keep waiting for them at the police station, or pay a minimal fine. Mr. Kalesnik chose the second variant.

Human Rights Chronicle