Uladzimir Yaromenak to serve three-month arrest

It took the board of judges of the Minsk City Court just seven minutes to consider Uladzimir Yaromenak's appeal against the verdict of the Pershamaiski District Court of Minsk, by which he was sentenced to three months of arrest.

On 20 August Mr. Yaromenak was accused of violating the rules of preventive surveillance (Article 421 of the Criminal Code of Belarus), which was established over him for six months since 15 March 2013 for a period of 6 months.

In January 2011 Yaromenak was arrested as a suspect in the case of “mass riots". He was sentenced to three years of jail. He served his sentence in a penitentiary near Vitsebsk. In August 2011, he was pardoned by the President together with other defendants in the case. After this, he was repeatedly punished with administrative arrests for participation in protest actions.

The criminal case about the violation of the rules of preventive supervision by Uladzimir Yaromenak was considered by Judge Leanid Yarmolenkau, in presence of the state prosecutor Charapkovich. On 20 August the “Young Front” activist was sentenced to three months of arrest.

The Human Rights Center "Viasna" considers the verdict to Uladzimir Yaromenak as an eloquent demonstration of the deteriorating human rights situation in Belarus, reinforcing the negative trend of the recent months in this area. That's why the human rights defenders adopted an appropriate statement, calling on the Belarusian authorities to stop the criminal prosecution of Uladzimir Yaromenak along with the practice of politically motivated prosecution of human rights defenders, journalists and all opponents of the existing political regime.