This week operatives of the Interior Ministry detained two more participants of the August 9-10 protests. They are accused of “mass disorder” (Article 293 of the Criminal Code). One of the detained persons is 16 years old.
A 16-year-old school student is accused of “throwing a bottle at the police”. The video published by the police does show the boy throwing a bottle during the protests, but it does not reach the law enforcement officers — it falls at least 3-4 meters short.
The detained teenager was forced by GUBOPIK employees to repent on camera. A press release from the Brest Regional Executive Committee’s Department of Internal Affairs said that the boy was allegedly “member of an informal youth movement promoting the ideas of neo-Nazism,” although his appearance does not indicate any involvement in the right-wing radical subculture.
Also, a 37-year-old Azerbaijani with a residence permit in Belarus was detained as part of a criminal case on “mass riots”. He is accused of throwing stones at the police.
This is not the first time that minors are prosecuted for participation in protests. 16-year-old Mikita Zalatarou from Homiel was detained and placed in a pre-trial center on August 11. He is accused of malicious hooliganism (part 3 of Article 339). And recently two 17-year-old boys were detained for a protest in the part of Minsk called Serabranka.
