The so-called ‘round dance case’ hearings continue in Brest, human rights centre Viasna reports. On June 8, judge Syarhei Maruchak imposed the sentences on the following persons involved in the case:
- Raman Dzemidovich, Maryna Darashuk, Sviatlana Marchuk, Alesya Kramchanina, Viktoryia Karalchuk – 1.5 years of restriction of liberty without being sent to a correctional facility;
- married couple Andrey and Palina Lyashko – 1.5 years of restriction of liberty with and without being sent to an open-type correctional facility, respectively;
- Mikalai Papeka, a poet and beekeeper from Pruzhany, got 2 years of “chemistry”;
- Yauhen and Arseny Sinyak, father and son – 2 years of restriction of liberty each;
- 34-year-old Volha Hlushan – 1.5 years of restriction of liberty without being sent to a correctional facility;
- 46-year-old Raman Yakhin – 2 years of restriction of liberty without being sent to a correctional facility
Political prisoners Volha Hlushan, Arseniy Sinyak and Raman Yakhin were released in the courtroom.
57 people have been already convicted in the ‘round dance case.’ In total, they have been sentenced to 44 years of restriction of liberty, 43.5 years of restriction of liberty without being sent to a correctional facility, 5 years and 2 months in prison.
The court case concerns September 13, when another protest action was held in Brest. Several hundred people formed a round dance. There was music and a festival, like a carnival, as witnesses recall those events. Police brought a water cannon to disperse the round dance. It was used for the first time during the protests in Belarus. Since then, Brest residents have been calling this intersection a water cannon.
A few weeks later, a criminal case under Article 342 of the Criminal Code (‘organisation and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order’) was opened.
