“Stop, motherf****rs,  or we'll shoot!” (Video)

How police from Vitebsk arrested the wife of a political prisoner.

Syarhei Kavalenka's wife Alena Kavalenka, his cousin, and an activist of European Belarus civil campaign Alena Semenshukova were detained near the building of the regional court in Vitebsk in the morning of May 18, when hearing of Kavalenka's appeal was to be resumed. “A car with police appeared. They got off the car and shouted, 'Stop, motherf****rs! We'll shoot!' I was surprised and astonished,” Alena Kavalenka told Belsat. “We were detained for 7 hours. They took us to the Kastrychnitski district police department, then to a police station where two KGB officers talked to us. By the way, I recognized one of them: he saw our latest action. He was standing nearby and phoning someone.”

The Vitebsk region court dismissed the appeal of Syarhei Kavalenka against the decision of the Pershamaiski district court of Vitebsk. “This is an order of the regime. They want to destroy Syarhei, ruin his health,” Alena Kavalenka said. Political prisoner's wife said she planned to prepare a supervisory appeal against the court decision.

On February 27, judge of the Pershamaiski district court Alena Zhuk found Kavalenka guilty of violating the rules of a suspended sentence (article 415 of the Criminal Code). The activist was given a 3-year suspended sentence in May 2010  for hanging out a national white-red-white flag on Vitebsk's Christmas tree. Kavalenka was detained on December 19, 2011 and jailed.