Prisoner of Ploshcha Malchanau faces criminal persecution again

On 4 June, the criminal case for the insult of state symbols against Ales Malchanau was resumed.

The case was opened on 27 October 2011, and was suspended on 27 March 2012 because it was not possible to continue the investigation. 

Prisoner of Ploshcha 2010 Ales Malchanau from Barysau received a relevant document from the Barysau district department of the Investigation Committee.

"A criminal case for the insult of the national flag has been opened against me just in a couple of weeks after I was released after serving administrative arrest for the participation in the Ploschcha protest. Because it was not possible to prove my guilt, and numerous allegations of police were falsified, the case was suspended. I have already forgotten about it, although the computers, seized during searches in which they looked for materials related to the criminal case, have not been returned to me yet," Ales Malchanau told to “Svaboda”.

In the night of 27 October 2011, a search in the house of Malchanau was carried out, during which the police were looking for "forbidden" national symbols. Then his computer was confiscated, and Aliaksandr himself was detained.

Despite the fact that the police did not find formal evidence of Molchanau’s guilt, he was arrested. On 27 October, Barysau district court sentenced Malchanau under Article 23.4 of the Administrative Code (disobedience to a lawful order or to the law-enforcement officials) for 10 days of arrest.

Later, another search was conducted in Malchanau’s house, and a criminal case under the article "Defamation of State Symbols" (Malchanau and his friend Andrei Mikalaeuski fell under police suspicion after state flags were doused with paint in the center of Barysau).

Aliaksandr Malchanau did not admit the guilt, and the criminal case was suspended.