BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

11/10/2007

Ethnic Polish protestor in Belarus jailed for swearing at policeman

Minsk - A Belarusian judge has ordered an ethnic Pole to be jailed ten days and fined for swearing at a policemen, the Belapan news agency reported Thursday.

Anjelika Boris, the leader of the banned Union of Belarusian Poles, began her prison term immediately after sentencing in a Grodno court, in the west of the authoritarian former Soviet republic.

Boris was found guilty of 'using inappropriate language' towards a uniformed law enforcer during the Wednesday arrest of Igor Bantser, another ethnic Pole in downtown Grodno.

'Citizen Boris allowed herself to use non-standard expressions...on the steps of the police station towards law enforcers performing their jobs,' the court finding read in part.

She in addition will have to pay a fine of 460,000 Belarusian roubles (230 dollars), according to the report.

The hearing was held in near-total government lockdown, with no one aside from Boris and court officials allowed in the courtroom, except her parents.

More than 200 of Boris' supporters, most ethnic Poles, gathered outside the courtroom to chant anti-government slogans, and sing opposition songs.

Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko in recent months has cracked down on ethnic Polish organizations as potential sources of opposition to his authoritarian regime.

The Polish groups with their strong connections to democratic Poland in the West act as a conduit for NATO agents working towards the overthrow of the Belarusian government, Lukshenko has claimed.

Boris and her allies have said they are interested only in improving the lot of ethnic Poles living in Belarus, and that they have no connections with Western spy agencies.

Source:

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1364553.php/Ethnic_Polish_protestor_in_Belarus_jailed_for_swearing_at_policeman

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