Political trials

Minsk's Central District Court on 26 March sentenced Dzmitry Chabatarenka to 10 days in jail for violating public order during the Freedom Day rally in Minsk. Lyudmila Hraznova, a deputy of the opposition Supreme Soviet, was fined 20 minimum wages (some $90) for the same offense. The court will try nine other people who were detained during the rally -- including opposition leader Vintsuk Vyachorka and human rights activist Ales Byalatski -- in the coming days. "All trials that take place today are political. In my opinion, this is understood by both judges and policemen who draw reports oriented toward appropriate articles [of the Code of Administrative Offences]... When the head of the Lukashenka administration or the interior minister supervises the dispersal of a demonstration, it is obvious that trials [of detained demonstrators] are political," Vyachorka told RFE/RL's Belarusian Service.