BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/05/2007

Belarusian Opposition Youths Fined

A district court in Minsk on May 29 fined four activists of the unregistered Youth Front, finding them guilty of acting on behalf of an unauthorized organization, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. Dzmitry Fedaruk was fined 1,240,000 rubles ($580), while Aleh Korban, Barys Haretski, and Alyaksey Yanusheuski were each fined 930,000 rubles ($435). The fifth defendant in the trial, Anastasiya Palazhanka, received an official warning. Yanusheuski is currently in the Czech Republic, pondering an application for political asylum. The May 29 punishments are significantly milder, compared to jail terms of six to 24 months handed down for similar offenses to four members of the unregistered organization Partnership in August 2006, or to the 18 months in a penal colony given to Youth Front leader Dzmitry Dashkevich in September 2006. Domestic and international human rights activists have called on the Belarusian government to abolish Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code, which penalizes participation in an unauthorized organization. "The very existence of Article 193-1 in the Criminal Code violates the Constitution of Belarus, which guarantees the freedom of association, as well as Article 22 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights and commitments to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It allows bringing criminal action against an unregistered organization even if its activities were not directed against state or public security and did not violate public order or the rights and freedoms of others," the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said in November 2006. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/05/3-CEE/cee-300507.asp