Vitebsk police interested in national symbols

The mother of European Belarus campaign activist Alena Semenchukova has been summoned to the Kastrychnitski district police department.

Policeman Zakharanka said on the phone he wanted to hear explanations from the girl and her minor brother Syarhei. Their mother, Natallya Semenchukova, was told to appear in the commission on juvenile affairs to answer some questions, Viasna human rights centre reports.

The woman was asked by police if her children had been near the medical university building on May 7, when a national white-red-white flag was hung out on the university hostel. The mother said Alena and Syarhei had been in the district because they had gone to register for tests for school graduates.

The woman was asked if she knew about political views of her daughter and the fact Alena had been detained with a poster “Freedom to Syarhei Kavalenka”. Judge of the Chyhunachny district Alena Tsyhankova fined the activist 175,000 rubles for holding an unauthorized action. The mother knew about the incident, policemen failed to have an “morale building conversation”. Inspector Vyachaslau Pyatkun advised the woman to talk to her children to prevent them from “spoiling their lives”.

The activist and her brother were not in Vitebsk on May 8, so police could not hear their explanations. Syarhei received a telephone call after the conversation with his mother and was ordered to come to the juvenile affairs commission “to have a talk”.