There were elderly people among the protesters detained during the March 12, the Human Rights Center Viasna reports.
The human rights defenders were contacted by a neighbor of Nina Varonich, a pensioner from Minsk, who was detained the other day near the Yakub Kolas metro station. First, the woman was taken to the Maskouski District Department of Internal Affairs, from where she was allowed to call her neighbor and inform her of the arrest. Next morning the neighbors found out that Nina Varonich was at the Akrestsina Street detention center awaiting trial.
“It is outrageous that they began to detain pensioners as well,” says human rights activist Valyantsin Stefanovich. “Also here we are faced with a certain contradiction: according to Article 6.7 of the Administrative Code, in Belarus, persons who take care of people over 80 years old cannot be detained, but there are no restrictions regarding the elderly.”
During the march of pensioners on October 12, the security forces acted brutally, actively using tear gas, non-lethals and flash grenades.
