Brest: court sides with police boss
Zmitser Shurkhai, a
coordinator of the organizing committee of the Belarusian Christian Democracy
Party, was detained on 28 June 2011, on the eve of a silent protest action, and
charged with using obscene language in public.
As a result, he was sentenced to
7 days of arrest. He appealed against this sentence at the Brest Region Court, which returned the
case for the second trial. In the beginning of autumn the activist was
justified by the Maskouski District Court of Brest. However, the head of the
Maskouski District Police Department, Ihar Zhyhalau, was dissatisfied with it,
and appealed against the justification at the Brest Region Court.
As a result, on 18 October the case was considered by the Maskouski District
Court again, and again found him guilty of using obscene language in public. On
3 November the Brest Region Court
confirmed the verdict.
