Raid on home of political prisoner Pavel Sevyarynets’ parents: Flags, books, umbrella seized
On Thursday, the police raided the flat of Tatsyana and Kanstantsin Sevyarynets in Vitsebsk. Three security officers and some witnesses took part in the search.
An umbrella, white-red-white flags and books by their son Pavel were seized from the parents.
“They took away I Love Belarus (books written by Pavel), my famous umbrella, white-red-white flags (even those knitted) that were in the rooms… I suggested they should confiscate them socks with white-red-white-stripe, but they ignored the ‘recommendation’. We are not the only ones in Vitsebsk who had to receive unexpected guests today,” the mother wrote on Facebook.
Tatsyana and Kanstantsin Sevyarynets are well-known local activists who have been repeatedly fined for showing white-red-white flags and taking part in protest events.
On May 25, their son, Belarusian Christian Democracy party leader and political prisoner Pavel Sevyarynets, was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in a medium security penal colony for ‘organising mass riots’. The trial was held behind the closed doors. Even family members of the defendants were barred from entering the courtroom; according to the authorities, the materials of the cases are related to a secret ‘protected by law’. For this reason, their defence lawyers were obliged not to break the secrecy of the investigation; they could not disclose any details.
Pavel Sevyarynets has been behind bars for over a year. He was detained even before the elections – on 7 June 2020, when he was returning from a picket to collect signatures.
