Mikalai Salianik Chained Himself In Courtroom

The activist has been tried for his love of the homeland.

A trial, which didn't stick to the pattern, has been held in Hrodna. The regional court was to consider the complaint of a citizen of Belarus, Mikalai Salianik, a member of the Belarusian National Congress, against the decision of the Kastrychnitski district court, which fined Mikalai Salianik for participating in the rally of Belarusian citizens to defend the independence of Belarus. Mikalai Salianik is ready to fight against this absurd sentence, even if he has to appeal to the international UN agencies, racyja.com reports.

Prior to the meeting, which was delayed for 15 minutes for unknown reasons, Mikalai Salianik made a performance in the courtroom, having chained himself to the handrails of the room tribune. Judge of Hrodna Regional Court Ihar Sobaleu, who was considering the complaint, reacted to the protest of Mikalai Salianik, who declared a hunger strike and refused to unlock the chain that chained his neck to the court furniture, as follows: he took a break, and then held the trial in another room.

Viktar Sazonau, Viasna human rights defender, says:

- It is impossible to understand and is offensive that he is tried when he got out to fight for what his ancestors died for - for the independence of the country. Mikalai Salianik took the extreme measures, he did the protest things - he chained himself to a barrier and he put on various symbols. All of that was certainly done to draw attention to this absurdity that is happening in court, and for people to pay attention to it, for judges to pay attention to it, for law enforcers who are taking part in the detention to pay attention to it.

As a result, a police officer with the rank of captain, who was ordered by the court to remove Salianik from the courtroom, called firemen and an ambulance. The first ones were needed to cut the chain from the furniture, not from the protester himself. The second service - to measure the pressure and provide medical assistance, as Mikalai is a heart patient. But after a while people in masks arrived, who took Mikalai to the Leninski district police department.