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Authorities Fear Solidarity If Trade Union Activists With Fired Workers

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Authorities Fear Solidarity If Trade Union Activists With Fired Workers
PHOTO: PRACA-BY.INFO

On March 31 activists of the REP Trade Union from Minsk, Brest, Baranavichy, Hrodna, Babrujsk, Smaliavichy held a protest in front of the entry of the plant where Mikhail Sashko had worked. During their protest they handed out leaflets with a request to support the fired colleague to workers who left the building after work.

The picket lasted for 25 minutes. But that was enough to charge trade union activists with holding an unsanctioned event. As a result, on April 8 basing upon the report of Slonim police department a local police officer drew up reports and sent them around to the places where participants of the rally live. After that individual “conversations” and trials followed.

As no law enforcers came up to the activists during the rally, and didn’t draw up reports, policemen were to find out who had taken part in the picket. And they used information at the Internet.

As the spokesperson of the REP Trade Union Mikalai Herasimenka told, as he was summoned to the court of Frunzenski district of Minsk on April 29, copies of articles about the picket from different web-sites were collected in the case materials.

The trade union activist noted that policemen hadn’t spare money – the pictures had been printed out by a colour printer.

– There were about 15 different documents in the fileMikalai Herasimenka shared the details – The case had been arranged painstakingly. The main thing, copies of participants’ photos, standing with posters, had been printed out by a colour printer. And it costs a lot. Besides, print out of all our phone calls on this day were found in the case papers. Identification of the picket participants had been made with their help, probably. But there were no witness statements there. One more document was read out: from 4.30 p.m. till 5.30 p.m. when workers of the plant were leaving the factory, a policeman in mufti officially recorded that there were no picketers there anymore.

As said by the trade union activist, during the hearings the main focus was made on violation of the law on mass events.

– That is why, according to the judge, we could not lend moral support to our comrade. As we violated the law! And finally, the verdict was announced – I was found guilty and punished by a fine of one basic unit. It is not a big sum, but I have a feeling of bitterness in my soul – how a man of labour could be protected from arbitrariness of officials in our “social” state? Not to mention how much time and money have been spent and are to be spent by policemen and courts to punish the workers who decided to defend their colleague, – Mikalai Herasimenka concluded.

We remind that on April 26 the court of Maskouski district of Brest issued an official warning in this case to the deputy chairperson of the REP trade union Zinaida Mikhniuk. The hearings of the case took place in her absence.

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