29 August 2007
Milinkevich urges police, judges in Brest to drop charges against local opposition activists
Former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich, leader of the Movement for Freedom, has appealed to the Maskowski District Court in Brest and the chief of the district police department to drop the charges against local opposition activists who were arrested on August 19.
Prominent opposition leader Pavel Sevyarynets and 28 other people were rounded up in a police raid on the Brest office of the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF) on that day. The police entered the office, alleging that there had been an unanimous telephone tip of a gathering of criminals there. Mr. Sevyarynets was telling those present about his new book, Letters from the Forest, at the moment.
On August 22, a judge of the Maskowski District Court sentenced him to 15 days in jail, finding the meeting at the BPF office to be an unauthorized rally. Mr. Sevyarynets was convicted of repeatedly violating regulations governing mass events within a year under Part 3 Article 23.34 of the Administrative Offenses Code.
The other 28 people arrested together with him are yet to stand trial.
http://brestonline.com/en/news/news1452.html