BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

Belarus court jails Russian protester

Minsk, Belarus, Apr. 28 (UPI) -- A Belarus court has sentenced a Russian citizen to a brief term in jail for taking part in a street rally marking the anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

A court in Minsk Wednesday sentenced Vadim Rezvy, one of the Russian citizens detained Tuesday during a street rally in Minsk, to 10 days administrative detention, the Russian news agency Interfax-West reported.

Fourteen Russian citizens, five citizens of Ukraine and 13 Belarussians who participated in an unauthorized street rally marking the 19th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster were detained, the news agency said. All of them were brought to Minsk's Leninsky District Court Wednesday, and court hearings are continuing there.

Belarus, which is ruled by the authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, was heavily hit by radioactive fallout following the April 26, 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown in neighboring Ukraine, and thousands of Belarussians are believed to have died.

Source:

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20050427-101033-4008r.htm


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