BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/04/2008

Seven Belarus Youths Sentenced To House Arrest Over Protest

MINSK, Belarus (AFP)--A Belarussian court Tuesday sentenced seven youth activists to two years under house arrest for their part in "mass disturbances" at an anti-government protest on Jan. 10.

The seven were found guilty of "activities that severely violate social order" when they joined small-scale traders and business people in briefly blocking the main street in the capital Minsk in a protest against a tax hike.

"The Belarussian judicial system has plunged to the level of the Soviet politics of the 1930s," said Tatyana Tishkevich, one of those convicted, in a reference to Stalin-era show trials.

The judge at Minsk's Central Court sentenced another youth activist to 18 months in prison for attacking a policeman in a separate incident in January. All of the defendants pleaded innocent

Source:

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080422%5cACQDJON200804221226DOWJONESDJONLINE000647.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=Seven%20Belarus%20Youths%20Sentenced%20To%20House%20Arrest%20Over%20Protest

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