23 December 2002
Man confesses to hay arson in Stolin

 Prosecutors in Stolin, Brest region, have charged a 23-year old resident of the village of Ponizhye with setting fire that reduced to ashes 80 tons of hay worth 10 million rubels.
The arsonist, a man with a criminal record, reported to a police station and confessed to the crime. He said he had set the fire to square accounts with the local farm management.
This was one of few hay arsons reported in the region this year, said the region's Department for Emergency Situations.
In most cases, hay or straw fires start incidentally as children play with matches or when someone throws a burning cigarette. Fires destroyed 1,693 tons of hay in the Brest region in January to November.