BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

15/03/2007

Belarusian Oppositionists To Stand Ttrial On Charges Of Obscene Behavior

Belarusian Popular Front leader Vintsuk Vyachorka and another opposition activist, Vyachaslau Siuchyk, who were arrested in Minsk on March 13, were released on March 14 and are to stand trial on March 23, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reported. Vyachorka has been charged with using obscene language in the presence of children. Siuchyk, who was detained because of his purported likeness to a criminal wanted by police, was subsequently charged with relieving himself on the street. Both politicians have been engaged in preparing an opposition rally for March 25 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 14, 2007). "I link both my arrest and my release to confusion in the heads of current officials," Vyachorka told RFE/RL. "They have no single concept of what to do and, possibly, different groupings are at loggerheads with each other. Some of them believe that it is necessary to suppress and whack [people] as usual. The others may think that it is necessary to make at least some gestures toward Europe, otherwise it will be quite bad." A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), led by Bundestag member Uta Zapf, arrived in Minsk on March 14 to hold a workshop on dialogue between Belarus and the European Union within the framework of the EU Neighborhood Policy. JM

Source:

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2007/03/3-CEE/cee-150307.asp