Brest activists remind about political prisoners on Human Rights Day

A two-hour picket dedicated to the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was held in Brest in the park soldiers-internationalists and was the only such event in Belarus which was permitted by the local authorities.

As promised by one of the organizers of the picket, human rights activist Uladzimir Vialichkin, the main purpose of the event was to draw public attention to the existence of political prisoners in Belarus. Participants of the rally held posters with photos of the former presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich, anarchists Ihar Alinevich, Mikalai Dziadok and Artsiom Prakapenka, an activist of the Belarusian Christian Democracy Yauhen Vaskovich and an activist of the Young Front Eduard Lobau who continue serving prison sentences.

There were few people in the park on the frosty day. Mostly they were pensioners and parents with young children. Nevertheless, the organizers of the rally believe that this site is by far more suitable for holding mass events than the previous one, the stadium "Locomotive", located in a very remote area of Brest.

Near the picket site one could see many policemen and people in plainclothes who attentively watched the event. At the end of the picket, its organizers were approached by an officer of Brest City Executive Committee who stated that there were no political prisoners in Belarus and pointed that unregistered symbols were used at the events. He was answered that the alleged unregistered symbols were just the name of the civic initiative. After this he didn't ask any other questions. The action ended peacefully, without any detentions.