News on the topic: political persecution
17.08.2007 Mikita Sasim Arrested for 10 Days
The press-center of Charter’97 managed to talk to the youth leader Mikita Sasim on mobile phone. Sasim said that he was detained by people in mufti. They seized him, twisted his arms and threw into a car. They behaved very rudely, tore his shirt, hit him in the back and legs several times and threatened to beat him.
17.08.2007 Ivatsevichy: Police Detain Participants of Summer Camp
In the morning of 17 August fifteen members of the BPF Youth headed for the town of Ivatsevichy, from which they planned to come to Koidanava. When they arrived to Ivatsevichy, the police came up to them at the railway station and said that ‘a mobile phone had been stolen’. Then they copied the passport data of all participants of the event. A member of the BPF Youth Andrus Ihnatovich has been detained.
15.08.2007 Chair of Shklou BPF Office Stays behind Bars
The chair of Shklou office of Belarusian People’s Front Party Aliaksandr Fiodarau will stay in jail, at least till the end of the investigation. The prosecutor of Shklou district Ihar Sitnikou denied the lawyer’s petition for change of the restraint to his client.
15.08.2007 Prosecutor’s Office and KGB Put Eye on BUNT
Minsk city prosecutor’s office summons for interrogations members of an unregistered movement BUNT. Human rights activists do not rule out that soon a new criminal case against youth activists can be brought.
15.08.2007 Kletsk: Criminal Case against Underground Press
Criminal charges have been brought against the underground publisher of Boiki Kletsk bulletin, democratic activist Siarhei Panamarou. That happened several hours after Panamarou’s submitting an application for a picket in support for the political prisoners.
14.08.2007 Siarhei Kliuyeu Complains to Prosecutor’s Office
An activist of Young Democrats Siarzhuk Kliuyeu has appealed to the prosecutor’s office against illegal actions of the police.
14.08.2007 Mahiliou: Armed Policemen Block Private House
Armed policemen have blocked a private house in Chkalau Street 16 in Mahiliou where a seminar of the oppositional movement with participation of representatives of Polish NGOs was taking place. The seminar participants do not let the police in. The house is ringed by nine policemen, three of whom have arms. There are also several persons in mufti as well.
13.08.2007 Criminal Case against Opposition Activist Features Samples of Telephone Bugging
The criminal case against the activist of Young Front Yaraslau Hryshchenia (brought under article 193.1 of the criminal case, ‘activity on behalf of unregistered organization’) contains materials that were received by the investigation by bugging his mobile telephone that was registered on a different name. There are about 20 minutes of recorded talks.
13.08.2007 Baranavichy: Viktar Parnachou Ordered not to Disconnect Phones
Today, on 13 August, a 22-year-old resident of Baranavichy Viktar Parnachou received an order from the police not to disconnect his home and mobile phones. He was also warned about possible summons to Baranavichy city police department of internal affairs.
13.08.2007 Police Arrest Valery Shchukin for ‘Begging’
Staff-members of Vitebsk railway department of the interior detained a well-known human rights activist Valery Schukin when he was raising funds for repaying Tatsiana Buynevich the moral damage caused to her when she was performing the responsibilities of the regional electoral commission secretary.
13.08.2007 Seviarynets Not Let Abroad
Youth leader Pavel Sevyarinets is not allowed to leave Belarus. At the department for citizenship and migration of the Vitsebsk Pershamaiski district Pavel Sevyarinets was refused of the exit permit.
10.08.2007 Salihorsk Police Detain Young Front Activists
At about 10 a.m. on 10 August Salihorsk police detained four activists of youth movement including Barys Parkhamchuk, Andrei Tychyna and Ivan Shyla. The activists were returning home from a summer camp. The reason for the detention was that they held in their hands a white-red-white flag.
10.08.2007 Homel: Police Detain Youth Activist Andrei Tsianiuta
On 9 August in the center of Homel, in Paleskaya Street, persons in mufti detained a regional leader of Young Front Andrei Tsianiuta. Later the activist found that these persons were policemen. They drew him to Chyhunachny borough police department of Homel ‘for a talk’. There they searched his belongings, found several independent media outlets (including the officially registered Nasha Niva), composed a confiscation report and a report about illegal distribution of the editions. During the confiscation they violated the process norms. Soon the activist was released.
09.08.2007 Minsk: Pavel Baranouski and Aliaksei Shydlouski Put Behind Bars again
The youth activist Aliaksei Shydlouski has been sentenced to five more days of jail. He was taken to Partyzanski borough court of Minsk right from the detention center where he was serving his 15-day arrest.
03.08.2007 FIDH Condemns Serious Human Rights Violations Perpetrated in Belarus on Occasion of State Sovereignty Day
Paris, July 31, 2007 – The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) expresses its deepest concern regarding a wave of arbitrary arrests and subsequent detentions of several opposition members in the run-up of the Belarus « State Sovereignty Day », which took place on July 27, 2007.
