Zmitser Dashkevich, a Young Front leader and former political prisoner, was grabbed by the Minsk police at about 12:20 when he was leaving the office of the Belarusian People’s Front Council.
A girl came to him and said: “Good afternoon, we are from the police”. The activist managed to livestream his being detained on Facebook.
Zmitser Dashkevich has been taken to Pershamayski district police department, the wife says and calls on his friends to go to the court and support him.
The girl who helped to detain Dashkevich:
Unknown people driving a blue minivan were following Zmitser within a few days, he said earlier.
Politician Yury Hubarevich filmed a video of the arrest from another perspective and posted it on his Facebook:.
(UPD) A hearing of Dashkevich’s case started at 15:00 in Soviet district court in Minsk. The activist is accused of non-obedience to the police in the course of defending Kurapaty.
According to policemen, Dashkevich grabbed them by clothes, sat on the ground and refused to obey to their orders. Tsimur Kesik, a policeman who was filming in Kurapaty, is witnessing.
Dashkevich has been sentenced to three days in custody.
On March 7, the Minsk police arrested Syarhei Palcheuski, an activist who once lay himself under the wheels of the truck to stop the construction at Kurapaty, a Stalin-era mass grave site near Minsk. Palcheuski was sentenced to 3 days in custody under Article 23 of the Administrative Code (participating in an unsanctioned rally). It is still unknown which protest action is the case. The authorities might be retaliating for his defending Kurapaty, Palcheuski’s mother told Belsat TV.
In late February, the Belarusian activists, including Zmitser Dashkevich and Syarhei Palcheuski, began a long-term action in defense of the memorial protesting against the construction of an office building started a few dozen meters from Kurapaty. According to them, it is fraudulent as the building permission was granted when the area was considered a protected zone.
Why should Belarusians defend Kurapaty? (ENG subs)
The plot on which ‘Belrekonstruktsiya’ company undertook the construction of a four-storey business center was sold by the city authorities at the auction in 2013. In 2014 the protected zone was significantly cut. According to historian Ihar Kuznyatsou, it is highly likely that remains of the victims will be found here. KGB archives which could cast light on the burial plans are classified until now. After several-day protesting in Kurapaty, the developer decided to take away its building fleet. Last Thursday, the company ordered to minimize any works and take the machines away. However, Minsk City Committee has not given up the idea to stop the construction of a business center here.
belsat.eu
