BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

08/01/2008

Belarusian Police Detain Small-Business Activist

Police officers in Barysau, Minsk Oblast, on January 8 detained Viktar Harbachou, leader of the unregistered organization For The Free Development of Enterprise, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. Harbachou's wife, Svyatlana Harbachova, told the broadcaster that an unknown man provoked an incident while they were getting off a train and ran away when the police arrived. Harbachova believes that the incident was deliberately contrived in order to prevent her husband from taking part in an upcoming protest. Belarusian small-business owners have called a demonstration for January 10 in central Minsk to protest the presidential decree that, as of January 1, bars them from hiring employees other than three family members. AM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2008/01/3-cee/cee-080108.asp