BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

28/05/2007

4 youth activists tried in Belarus, face up to 2 years in prison

MINSK, Belarus (AP) - Four youth activists, including a 16-year-old, went on trial Monday in Belarus on charges of participating in an unregistered opposition group and face up to two years in prison.

About 200 government opponents and representatives of U.S. and European Union member embassies gathered outside the courthouse to express support for the defendants.

They are charged with taking part in activities of the Young Front, an opposition organization that authorities in the ex-Soviet republic have refused to grant official registration.

Ahead of March 2006 electrons marred by widespread arrests and harassment of government opponents, authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko initiated legislation criminalizing participation in unregistered organizations. Young Front leader Zmitser Dashkevich is serving an 18-month sentence handed down in November.

Lukashenko has made Belarus into one of Europe's most repressive societies, quashing dissent and closing down opposition media. The U.S. and the EU have imposed sanctions on Lukashenko and top members of his government, and he has shown some signs of seeking to improve relations with the West amid strains in ties with Russia.

One of the defendants, 16-year-old high-school student Nasta Polozhanko, said she believed she was being used as a pawn by Lukashenko in his geopolitical maneuvering.

"I feel like a political hostage," she said. "First Lukashenko takes a hostage, then he starts to bargain with the EU and the U.S. on the conditions for release."

Two opposition activists whose three-year prison sentences prompted condemnation by the U.S. and EU were freed a year early last week.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/youth-activists-tried-in-belarus-r136924.htm