Andrei Sannikov: I condemn arrest of activist of my campaign

• 11.10.2010, 12:03

An activist of Andrei Sannikov’s election team stood trial for raising a flag with EU symbols.

On October 10, the Minsk riot militia detained an assistant of member of Andrei Sannikov’s imitative group Raman Bahdanovich. Illya Shcharbinski raised a flag of European Belarus civil campaign on the picket to collect signatures for Sannikov. Riot militia officers said Shcharbiinski would be guarded to a militia department in the Zavadski district of Minsk. Later, the militia refused to give any information about his location.

The ground for detention was the fact that Illya Shcharbinski raised a flag with European symbols. As it was found out, he spent the night in the Zavadski district militia department and stood a secret trial in the morning. He was found guilty of “hooliganism” and fined 70,000 Belarusian rubles. The ruling was delivered by judge Nyakrasava.

“we can say that abductions of people go on. The liberalization that members of the Central Election Commission are talking about is just words, their statements are empty. I regard the arrest of Illya Shcharbinski as pressure on me as a presidential aspirant and demand to immediately intimidating members of my initiative group and activists. We will not give up our aims, which are change of power in Belarus,” leader of European Belarus campaign Andrei Sannikov said.