BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27 Apr 2005 16:29:58 GMT

Belarus protesters jailed for anti-Lukashenko rally

Source: Reuters

MINSK, April 27 (Reuters) - A Belarussian court on Wednesday convicted 30 people for taking part in a rally denouncing President Alexander Lukashenko this week and sentenced them to brief jail terms of up to 15 days.

Police dispersed 300 demonstrators on Tuesday who had gathered on the 19th anniversary of the world's largest civil nuclear disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine, which also contaminated about a quarter of Belarus.

"My feeling was that all the sentences had been prepared in advance," said protest organiser Marian Bogdanovich of the United Civic Party, who was given a fine of about $1,500.

"In my case, there was not even an attempt to confer on proceedings."

Activists from Belarus's small opposition usually mark the anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster with their largest protests of the year against Lukashenko, who stands accused of human rights violations by Western countries and rights groups.

Some Western commentators have said demonstrations which helped overturn governments in ex-Soviet Georgia in 2003 and in Ukraine last year could spread to Belarus.

But Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, has vowed no such upheaval will occur in the country of 10 million people wedged between Russia and frontier states of the European Union.

Those sentenced included 14 Russians and four Ukrainians, among them a town council member. Ukraine's foreign ministry expressed concern at the arrests.

Source:

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L27574792.htm