BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

02/11/2006

Belarusian Youth Activist Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison

Judge Ala Bulash of Minsk's Kastrychnitski District Court sentenced Zmitser Dashkevich, a leader of the opposition group Youth Front, on November 1 to 18 months in a minimum-security correctional institution, RFE/RL's Belarus Service and Belapan reported. Dashkevich was punished under an article of the Criminal Code that prohibits running an unregistered organization. The article was added to the Criminal Code in December 2005 as part of amendments that introduced harsh penalties "for activities directed against people and public security." "The regime has made another signal that any unregistered organization has no right to conduct activities here," Anatol Lyaukovich, leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party, told RFE/RL. "It is the natural logic of a [repressive] regime, which can only become tougher. If it shows a sign of weakness, it will collapse," he added. Some 300 young people demonstrated in front of the court during the announcement of the verdict. "It is just local support, because on the whole people don't know what's taking place in the country and how many political prisoners we have," human rights defender Lyudmila Hraznova said. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2006/11/3-cee/cee-021106.asp