On April 27, Minsk Judge Yuliya Shut and Yuliya Inchyna sentenced two people to 15 days in jail for wanting to put a candle and a lamp stick in the memory of the Chernobyl disaster, reports HRC Viasna.
Yury Lankevich and Anastasiya Vaitovich were detained on the evening of April 26 on Svaboda Square. The police filed reports for participation in unauthorized picketing by “shouting provocative slogans near the roadway” (Article 24.23 of the Code of Administrative Violations). (Article 24.23 of the Code of Administrative Offences).
According to Anastasiya, she came to the church on Svaboda Square to put a candle. The church was already closed, so she stood for a few minutes and was about to leave. But at that moment, a riot police officer approached her and asked her for ID. Then she was taken to the police department.
Judge Yuliya Shut said the desire to put a candle was an unauthorized action and arrested Anastasiya for 15 days.
Yury Lankevich, a researcher of the Academy of Sciences, was given the same sentence from Judge Yuliya Inchyna.
He was smoking at a bus stop on Svaboda Square when the police approached him and asked to show him his backpack. Inside was a lamp, which became the reason for his detention.
In a conversation with the judge, Lankevich explained that he was a Catholic and was going to the Red Church to put a lamp in memory of the victims of the Chernobyl accident.
Judge Yuliya Inchyna had Yury arrested for 15 days.
In the end, he addressed a police witness:
“Witness, do you understand that with your testimony you jeopardize my work at the Academy of Sciences, pre-defense, and defense of my Ph.D. thesis? This is not about 15 days, do you understand that?”
belsat.eu
