Homel police threaten Young Front co-chair Andrei Tsianiuta

On July 27, Andrei Tsianiuta, co-chair of the Young Front opposition movement, received a phone call from an unknown person who introduced himself as a police inspector and ordered to urgently come to the police department. However, the police officer refused to specify the reasons for the summons. He only said that they received “some papers from the court”. When the activist refused to come to the department without a writ, the caller threatened him with detention, saying that “now a patrol will come and take you to the department”.

The activist believes that the call is linked to July 27, the anniversary of the proclamation of the Declaration of Sovereignty of Belarus, when Homel opposition activists planned to stage a number of pickets, but the city executive authorities did give permission for these public events.

Andrei Tsianiuta has paid all the fines and served all the administrative arrests ordered by the courts. Therefore, the court and the police could have no claims to the activist. In May, he was detained on the eve of the World Ice Hockey Championship and then served an administrative arrest for alleged using foul language and resisting police. Later, the activist was expelled from the Skaryna Homel State University.