Man detained for speaking Belarusian

A man in Homel was detained yesterday for speaking in his native language – Belarusian, informed radio Svaboda. Vasil Takarenka came to one of the banks to purchase foreign currency for his 12-year-old son who was traveling abroad.

Mr. Takarenka uses Belarusian in his daily interactions, a language often associated with the opposition groups. A security guard who found Mr. Takarenka‘s behaviour suspicious, started to question him and asked for documents. Mr. Takarenka answered all the questions in Belarusian, the security guard did not understand him and called the police, who arrived soon and detained Mr. Takarenka.

Thanks to witness testimony, Mr. Takarenka was released soon after.

Belsat