Pinsk Activist Fined For Solidarity Rally

The authorities cannot forget the Pinsk Residents’ determination at the rally of solidarity on March 26.

Aliaksandr Auseyanka, an activist of the Belarusian Popular Front party and the movement For Freedom, was fined 460 rubles – $ 230 (20 basic units) for participating in the rally of solidarity, held on March 26, Radio Svaboda reports.

Judge Andrei Bachyla found the activist guilty of "violating the law on mass events."

At the trial, Aliaksandr Auseyanka demanded to disqualify the judge on the grounds that he did not trust him "because of his participation in the previous political trials". However, the judge did not satisfy the appeal.

Auseyanka’s case was considered in Pinsk for the second time after the Brest Regional Court overturned the initial verdict because of procedural violations. The activist was fined 460 rubles at the first trial.

As Pinsk human rights activist Aliaksandr Ramanovich says, Aliaksandr Auseyanka "appealed to the court to call Valery Sarochanka, the head of the Pinsk Department of the Interior, as a witness, but the judge turned down his appeal."

Aliaksandr Auseyanka’s trial was the last in the row of numerous trials for participating in the rallies of "non-parasites" that took place in Belarus this spring.