People's Assembly: chronicle of persecution
People's Assembly in Minsk on 12 November
On 12 November the second People's Assembly was held
in many cities and towns of Belarus.
Some of its participants were detained preventively, and some others – during
the assembly.
Homel
Entrepreneur Valery Repnin was detained while driving away from his house
on his car. Police captain Kanaplitski told him that the car was allegedly
wanted. As a result, Repnin was taken to the Savetski District Police
Department. Human rights defender Anatol Paplauny thinks that Valery was
detained because of his active participation in the previous assembly.
After 1 p.m. the police also detained journalist Anatol Hatouchyts and
opposition activist Uladzimir Niapomniashchykh near the Culture Palace
of the Deaf “Vipra”. They were taken to the police station in Fadzeyeu Street.
Five more detainees were kept there together with them.
Valery Sliapukhin, an organizer of the People's Assembly, was detained
preventively. Mikola Bianko, a journalist for Radio “Racyja”, was detained
while covering the assembly and was taken to the Chyhunachny Districft Police
Department of Homel.
Among the detainees there were also activists of the “Revolution through Social
Network” Zmitser Karashkou, Illia Mironau, Vasil Takarenka and Kseniya
Yaraslautsava, a member of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Viktar
Adzinochanka, civil activist Yury Zakharanka, “Young Front” activist Andrei
Tsianiuta and some youngsters whose names remain unknown.
All detainees were released three hours after the detention. Valery Bianko was
taken on the city outskirts and left there. At present he prepares a complaint
about the unlawful actions of the police. According to Leanid Sudalenka,
charges under Article 23.34, “violation of the rules of conduct of mass events”
were given to two people – Dzmitry Karyshkou and Kseniya Yaraslautsava. Both of
them were charged on two episodes – 8 October assembly and 12 November
assembly.
Minsk
At about 1 p.m. the police detained an organizer of the People's Assembly,
Viktar Ivashkevich, on Banhalor
Square. He was taken to the Tsentralny District
Police Department of Minsk. Those who were giving interviews were videoed by
people in plain clothes. Political activist Vintsuk Viachorka was detained at
about 1p.m., while giving an interview. An unknown man was detained near “El
Pomidoro” restaurant, not far from Banhalor
Square. He was put into a minibus without number
plates.
According to BelaPAN, the police also detained four national-Bolsheviks – Pavel
Hushcha, Valery Kabernik, Yauhen Kontush and Ulad Lobau.
Vitsebsk
Siarhei Kavalenka, who has been sentenced for conditional imprisonment for
hanging out a white-red-white flag on the main New Year Tree of Vitsebsk in
2010, was detained preventively and kept in the police inspection till the end
of the assembly.
Baranavichy
27 people took part in the assembly. It was impossible to get in the city park,
as it was blocked by people in plain clothes. The assembly was opened by Viktar
Tsiapin, who read out the answers of the National Bank and the Ministry of
Labor to the questions of the resolution of the 8 October assembly. After this,
a speech was delivered by Aliaksandr Halkevich, a member of the Baranavichy
City Council. The secretary of the assembly, Viktar Syrytsa, stated that the
Baranavichy City Executive Committee and the Baranavichy City Council hadn't
answered the questions of the previous people's assembly. No resolution was
adopted this time. The present people cheered themselves up with applause and
dispersed.
The head of the organizing committee of the assembly, Viktar Meziak, was
detained several minutes before the beginning. He was taken to the Baranavichy
City Police Department, where a violation report was drawn on him. Viktar
Syrytsa, Anzhela Kambalava and Ryhor Hryk paid a visit to the city police
department to find about Meziak, but were told that he wasn't there. The
activist says that he was kept in room 114 for about 90 minutes.
Lida
Siarhei Karpenka, a journalist for the TV-channel “BelSat”, was detained
during the People's Assembly. Civil activist Siarhei Karaban was taken to the
police station together with him. Both of them were kept there for three hours.
The detainees were told that somebody had set afire the doors of the local
House of Poles and they needed to give explanations about it. As it was found
later, unidentified persons tried to set fire to the doors one or two days
before the assembly. The policemen also wanted to take away the video camera
from Siarhei Karpenka. Bear in mind that the journalist has been detained
several times this year, and the local prosecutor threatened him with bringing
a criminal case.
Slonim
At 7 p.m. on 11 November police captain Aliaksandr Khudzko came to the
apartment of Ivan Bedka, the leader of the organizing committee of the
Belarusian Christian Democracy Party in Slonim. The policeman warned him
against taking part in the People's Assembly. He also stated that he would be
arrested if he came there, and also told Bedka to inform another BCD member,
Ales Masiuk, about it.
The people's assembly in Slonim didn't take place. An hour before the action
the city park was blocked by people in plain clothes and police officers. Some
of them stood at the park entrance, while others were sitting in cars, watching
passers-by.
However, members of the democratic forces of Slonim gathered at a private
apartment to discuss the political and economic situation in the region and in Belarus.
Navapolatsk
Yauhen Parchynski, an organizer of the People's Assembly, spent two hours
at the police station. The matter is that several days ago he had received a
summon to the police, for the time of the assembly. There it was stated that he
was a witness of some crime and needed to identify the criminals. Of course,
there were no “criminals” there, and Parchynski just had to waste his time. As
a result, the assembly was held without him – about 20 people gathered in a
yard on Parkavaya Street.
