Alyaksandr Atroshchankau arrested in Tsentralny court

An activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Alyaksandr Atroshchankau has been detained in the court room of Tsentralny district of Minsk where the trial over participants of the protest rally of entrepreneurs took place.

The activist was charged with alleged “insult” of Judge Alena Illina, who had passed a sentence upon Andrei Kim. He was sentenced to a year and a half in a colony and 2 years of corrective labour at his employment place. Other defenders were fined. A report was drawn up against Atroshchankau. He is to stand trial in the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk today.

An activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Alyaksandr Atroshchankau is traditionally detained in the run-up to mass protest rallies. (“The way of Chernobyl” will take place in Minsk on April 26).

Before the European March held in Minsk on October 14, 2007 the democratic activist was arrested in his own apartment. Policemen burst into the apartment of the oppositionist in the third floor through the window (!) and searched the apartment. Officers of law-enforcing agencies stated that they allegedly received an anonymous phone call stating that a dead body was hidden in his apartment. However, when policemen entered the apartment, the first things that interested them were computers.

Office equipment including computers was seized from his apartment. Besides, informational materials for the European March, flags of the EU and a Belarusian national emblem “Pahonya” were confiscated.

On the next day after the search the activist was sentenced to 10 days of arrest. Policemen who forced an entry to the apartment illegally, “testified” that the detained allegedly “used foul language”.