Pensioner's Interview Equated With "Mass Rally"

The judges, who protect Natallia Kachanava’s rest, have problems with logical thinking.

The pensioner gave an interview and was fined for participating in an "unauthorized event". There was neither a poster nor a banner in her hands. The woman did not shout any slogans. But the judge found that communication with journalists in a public place was an unauthorized event.

On July 12, Babruisk court judge Alena Yarmashevich fined 65-year-old Liubou Sankevich 65 basic units for taking part in the "unauthorized rally" on Kastrychnitskaya Square in Minsk on June 22.

Salidarnasts has learnt that from Against Lawlessness At The Prosecutor's Office And Courts civil initiative lawyer Tamara Siarhei.

According to Tamara Siarhei, the fact that Liubou Sankevich did not hold a poster or a flag – no attributes, – proves her innocence. A picket of solidarity with the detainees on the "patriots' case" took place on Kastrychnitskaya Square that day. During the event, Babruisk pensioner Liubou Sankevich talked to reporters, she told them how she had tried to make an appointment to see Natallia Kachanava, but without success.

Tamara Siarhei thinks it’s outrageous that after returning from Minsk, Liubou Sankevich was detained by six policemen. The woman was interrogated after 22.00. She was taken away from the Main Department of Internal Affairs by an ambulance.

The police demonstrated a video at the trial to prove that the pensioner had been taken to the Internal Affairs Department before 22.00. Liubou Sankevich did not recognize herself on that video.

The total amount of fines that the Babruisk pensioner, an Against Lawlessness At The Prosecutor's Office And Courts civil initiative activist, has to pay for participation in unauthorized events is 101 basic units (2323 rubles).