TRIAL FOR LUKASHENKA’S MASKS CONTINUES :: Charter'97 :: News

Unprecedented for Belarus trial over the four ZUBR movement activists Mikhail Kiselev, Maksim Potapchik, Alyaxandar Pavlovich, Denis Senokosov and Dmitry Shalashkov resumed today in the Shklov district court of Minsk. Five guys may get three years of jail for wearing masks of Europe’s sole remaining dictator. The authorities are hunting down ZUBRs since August last year when they held in the Gorodets village (once presided by Lukashenka) a performance from the “Time to choose!” series. The blokes put on their faces mustached masks and cruised around Shklov’s stores, where they ran a pre-election agitation among the customers, promising them $100 wages, price-decrease, jail for all thieves, businessmen and all those, who don’t cast their votes for their fellow-countryman. The action was thwarted by the law-enforcers, who for no reason felt that the face on the mask belonged to the presidential candidate Lukashenka.

In February there commenced trial over ZUBRs. The jury read out accusatory statement on disgracing the president of the Republic of Belarus (art.368/1 of the Criminal code) – under which they may get up to three years of jail.

Since February 18 the Charter’97 web-site visitors sent their letters of protest against this lawless trial – the product of the dictatorship era – to the official e-mail address of Alyaxandar Lukashenka. In less than a week the site’s visitors bombarded the dictator with more than 60 letters of protest, filled with the words of indignation and anger over the official policy, as well as with the words of encouragement for the young patriots. The protest will continue all the way until the termination of trial.