Anarchists stand trials in Minsk

On January 21, the Leninski District Court of Minsk sentenced two activists of the anarchist movement to an administrative arrest of 15 days each.

The activists say the harassment is linked to a series of actions held after the arrests at a punk concert on January 10. Their cases were heard by Judge Andrei Kamushkin, who ordered the arrest of two participants of the concert back on January 12.

Today’s court revealed a number of violations by employees of the Leninski district police department of Minsk. For example, two police officers not only prevented people from entering the courtroom, but also stopped those coming down the hall, justifying this by saying that “the court is closed”. Visitors were asked to show their IDs and explain the reasons for their stay at the courthouse. The police officers refused to give their names, showing their IDs so quickly that it was impossible to see their personal info. The detainees were brought to court and taken out so that contact with them was impossible.

There also appeared reports about the arrest of another anarchist: he was detained at his workplace and taken to the Leninski district police department.

According to information received by the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, in the evening on January 20 a few people met their friends outside the Center for the isolation of offenders after serving administrative arrests of 10 days. The activists were approached by plainclothes policemen and asked to show their IDs; after that one of them was detained. Later it became known that the same night police officers detained a girl. Both were detained for alleged failure to prove their identity and on suspicion of involvement in the protests that took place on January 16.