Vitsebsk resident Anhelina Turavets was detained during the official event on the occasion of Victory Day on May 9. She was wearing a cloth mask with an image closely resembling a white-red-white flag.
The police also held Anhelina’s companion, but then he was released. The man was not having a ‘suspicious’ mask. Awaiting the hearing of the case, Anhelina Turavets spent 72 hours in the pre-trial detention centre.
Anhelina was tried in Chyhunachny district court of Vitsebsk. According to the authorities version, by wearing a mask in white and red colours, the defendant staged a single-person picket. Judge Alena Tsyhankova sentenced her to 20 days of administrative arrest. Not agreeing with the court ruling, she is going to appeal against it.
In 1991, the white-red-white flag and the emblem Pahonya (Pursuit) were adopted as national symbols of the country. However, they were official until the 1995 referendum, when on the tip from Belarusian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who is an ardent adherer of the USSR, they were replaced by the Soviet ones. For years, pro-Lukashenka officials have been linking the white-red-white colours to the opposition. Last December, the authorities warned that those Belarusian citizens who would hang out ‘unregistered symbols’ even on their windows or balconies might be penalised under administrative law.
