Interior Ministry says arbitrary arrests of oppositionists are lawful

One of the leaders of “Young Front” Anastasia Palazhanka and organization activist Andrei Lyaukovich received answers to their complaints to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The “Young Front” members told in an interview to Radio Svaboda it was a traditional reply that militia officers had not violated the law by their actions.

Anastasia Palazhanka filed a complaint at militiamen after she had been detained near the entrance of her house, taken to a militia department and detained for more than five hours on November 7. Her family didn’t information about the girl’s location.

Andrei Lyaukovich was detained at the entrance to the house in the Hrodna region, where the youth activist was gathering signatures within the frames of a campaign for support of the Belarusian language. Lyaukovich had to spend some hours in a militia department. All printed materials were seized.

The “Young Front” activists note this is not the first reply of the Ministry of Internal Affairs saying the Ministry doesn’t see any signs of abuse of power in militiamen’s actions.