BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2006

Belarus opposition leader arrested, sentenced

Minsk - Belarusian law enforcers on Thursday arrested and hours later sentenced to a jail term Aleksander Milinkevich, the leader of the country's embattled opposition, sources in the opposition camp said.

Police took Milinkevich into custody in the offices of a Minsk newspaper. The former presidential candidate had rejected a telephone 'invitation' to speak with police earlier in the day, the sources said.

Milinkevich had been wanted for questioning for his participation in unsanctioned anti-government demonstrations on Wednesday.

A Minsk judge only hours later found Milinkevich guilty of violating public disturbance and assembly law, and sentenced the physics professor to fifteen days' detention in a city jail.

Milinkevich told reporters he would appeal the sentence.

Also arrested on Thursday were opposition activists Sergei Kaliakin, Aleksander Bukhvostov, and Aleksander Shidlovskiy, all on similar charges connected with the Wednesday marches.

Agents from the Belarusian KGB on Tuesday evening arrested Milinkevich's top lieutenant, Anatoly Lebedko, chairman of the United Civic Party and held him without informing relatives all Wednesday. He was allowed to phone his wife on Thursday morning but had not been released by afternoon, opposition spokesmen said.

Lebedko reportedly will face charges of anti-state terrorism for his participation in more than a week of anti-government marches in late March. Police used clubs and tear gas to end the demonstrations.

Three Ukrainian activists that participated in the Wednesday demonstrations were deported from Belarus on Thursday.

Belarus has seen repeated anti-government demonstrations in recent weeks, since authoritarian President Aleksander Lukashenko used Soviet tactics to win re-election in March.

Earlier, it was reported that besides Lebedko, the head of the Belarusian Popular Front, Vintsyuk Vyachorka, had also been arrested as opposition groups took advantage of state-run Chernobyl memorial activities to organize a mass protest against the authoritarian government.

Vyachorka was arrested in Minsk by several men in civilian clothes and taken to an unknown location, the human-rights organization Charter 97 said.

Crowds at the opposition demonstration in the city centre had grown by the hour despite a police ban on marchers deviating from areas set aside for remembrances to mark the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.

Government-sponsored street ceremonies on the anniversary of the April 26, 1986, disaster have over the years become an annual protest event for Belarus' much-repressed opposition, which otherwise is practically forbidden rights of public assembly.

Milinkevich led the march despite police warnings earlier in the day that if he participated in anti-government demonstrations, he would be arrested.

The crowd chanted 'Long live Belarus!' 'Freedom!' and 'Fairness!' Demonstrators were peaceful and avoided conflict with a powerful police contingent backed by armoured vehicles that was present.

Belarusian police late last month used clubs and tear gas to disperse opposition demonstrations in the wake of a presidential election returning the country's leader, former collective farm boss Aleksander Lukashenko, to office.

European Union officials criticised the new round of crack downs on Belarusian opposition.

'We condemn any detentions that have taken place for the reason that (the detainees) have taken part in political demonstrations or any other political activity,' said Emma Udwin, spokeswoman for EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, at a midday briefing in Brussels.

The EU along with the US and most NATO nations banned visits by Lukashenko and his top advisors, as punishment for the Belarusian leader's dictatorial rule.

Lukashenko has laughed off the ban, saying he and his subordinates have little interest in travelling to such countries.

Source:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/article_1158898.php/Belarus_opposition_leader_arrested_sentenced

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