On Tuesday, Anatol Bokun has been found guilty of participating in an unauthorised mass event and disobeying the police. He has been sentenced to 25 days of administrative arrest.
A day earlier, Aleh Kudzelka, the foreman of the mining section of the 4RU mine at Belaruskali, said that he would remain in the mine after the night shift. He wrote an appeal in which he demanded the resignation of general director Ivan Halavaty, the release of the imprisoned strike committee members, the cancellation of the decision to dismiss the striking workers, the end of pressure on the members of the strike committee and ‘an end to the lawlessness of the security forces, an end to intimidation and beating of the country’s civilian population’.
However, the man was lifted to the surface and taken to a mental hospital. The local residents who wanted to back the strikers gathered at the enterprise. 22 persons were grabbed by riot police; later, all detainees but Bokun were freed.
Anatol Bokun had recently served a 15-day jail term for ‘violating the procedure for organising and holding mass events’.
