Activist from Homel Yury Rubtsou goes on hungry strike in jail

Details of the arrest of the opposition activist appeared.

On May 22, Homel's Chyhunachny district court sentenced Yury Rubtsou, who was recently released after a 25-term in custody, to 5 days. The activist will be released at 4 a.m. on May 27. He went on hunger strike in the detention centre protesting against police brutality and judicial outrage, Viasna human rights centre reports.

A lawyer visited the 52-year-old opposition activist in the detention centre in Homel.

Rubtsou, who was serving a term in custody for wearing a T-shirt, was taken to the Chyhunachny district police station on May 21, several hours before the expiration of his term. Police officers wanted him to sign a paper that the activist didn't have complainants regarding the seized T-shirt. The activist refused to put his signature.

He was allowed to leave the police station at 19:30. His mobile phone battery died, so he asked a police cadet to use his phone to call his wife. Yury only said a couple of words, and a man in civilian clothes ran up to the cadet and said: “You gave your phone to the spy.” Rubtsou arrived in Homel on Baranavichy-Mariupol train at 4 a.m. and went home.

Two riot police officers ran up to him near the railway station saying: “Are you Yury?” They ordered to show his ID. They tried to search him for drugs, but met decisive protest.

Rubtou was taken to the Chyhunachny district police station in Homel and charged with failure to obey and swearing in a public place. The police officers refused to call a lawyer and didn't allow the activist to call how wife.

The activist was taken to the detention centre and then to the court of the Chyhunachny district. The police officers, who had detained him, gave their evidence at the trial. According to them, “Rubtsou fell on the ground, resisted and swore”.

The judge, whose name the activist doesn't remember, believed the policeman and sentenced Rubtsou to five days in custody. Yury Rubtsou said he would go on hunger strike protesting against police and judicial outrage.

Yury Rubtsou serves his term in a solitary cell. He fears that the police will detained him again and asks people to meet him near the detention centre in the morning of May 27.

Rubtsou was detained by the police after the Chernobyl Way rally. He took part in the demonstration in a T-shirt with the text “Lukashenka, go away”.

On April 28, judge of Minsk's Savetski district court Kiryl Palulekh sentenced the activist to 25 days in custody for “failure to obey legal orders of an official” and “disorderly conduct”. The activist's T-shirt was seized.

Photo: Radio Svaboda