Piatrukhin And Kabanau Sentenced To Five Days Of Arrest For Participating In “Say No To Battery Plant!” Rally

Another protest member, Raman Kisliak, was taken to hospital from the temporary detention facility.

On October 16, the trials of participants in the rally against the battery factory construction continued in Brest. The authorities are taking hard the Sunday protest, when about 120 people came to Lenin Square in the regional center, the human rights center Viasna reports.

As a result, 14 of them were detained. Later, three minors were released from the police department.

The Leninski district court considered the administrative cases of bloggers Siarhei Piatrukhin, Aliaksandr Kabanau, and activist Aleh Vialau, who yesterday filed requests about concluding contracts with a lawyer. They are accused of violating Article 23.34 of the Administrative Code (organizing or participating in an unauthorized mass event).

The trial began at 14-30. Judge Siarhei Kalina banned photo and video recording.

Aliaksandr Kabanau did not deny his participation in the Sunday rally at the central square of Brest. Witness-policeman Pavel Ruzhynski spoke at the meeting.

As a result, the judge sentenced Aliaksandr Kabanau to five days of arrest for violating Article 23.24 of the Administrative Code. A similar decision was made in relation to blogger Siarhei Piatrukhin.

Another of those detained after the October 14 rally, human rights activist Raman Kisliak, was taken from the temporary detention center to the hospital because of high blood pressure. His trial was rescheduled for October 18.

We remind that yesterday, the Leninski district court of Brest considered 7 administrative cases: 6 rally participants were fined, and Belarusian National Congress leader Mikalai Statkevich was sentenced to a 5 day arrest.