Blogger Grey Cat Serves 60-Day Arrest, Human Rights Defender Says

Has the activist been subjected to another secret trial?

Radio Racyja reports referring to human rights activist Pavel Levinau that blogger and activist Dzmitry Kazlou, known as Grey Cat, has already been sentenced four times for fifteen days for participation in protests against the integration with Russia and call on social networks to participate in protests.

Previously, three such convictions were known.

Kazlou stopped contacting Kazlou on 26 December 2019. Comrades from European Belarus say they've been trying to find out from law enforcement officers whether Kazlou was detained. He was to be tried in Leninski District Court of Minsk on December 30. That day it became known that the blogger was detained on the 25th and put in jail for 15 days in Orsha. He was to be released on January 9, but he'd been tried again while serving his sentence.

As Palina Stsepanenka later wrote, Kazlou was tried on January 13 while he was serving his sentence in Orsha. None of his acquaintances or representatives knew about the trial.

According to Pavel Levinau, another trial was held on January 10, and Kazlou was also sentenced to 15 days.

Will there be any breaks between arrests? Pavel Levinau says: "According to the Code of Administrative Offences, a person can't be kept in jail for more than 25 days in a row. But when 15 days expire, you may even be released. But in a minute you can be detained again and sentenced".

Levinau says he knows about two other drawn-up administrative protocols - January 2 and 5. They accuse the blogger of calls on social networks for Minsk rallies on December 20 and 21. The court has not yet considered these cases. Grey Cat is also waiting for the trial in Minsk for participation in the protest rally of December 8.

"He said he would be released before May holidays," said Palina Stsepanenka. - He admits both participation in the rallies and the dissemination of information on social networks," she says.