Later civil society activist Siarhei Salash stated that verdicts for administrative arrest for different terms had been prepared for all 23 Barysau participants of the solidarity action with the Ukrainian Euromaidan protesters.
On Friday, 31 January, it became known that at least two fans were sentenced to five days imprisonment for the action.This happened despite the fact that fans’ faces were blurred in the photo, for security purposes.
The first fan Yauhen (the young man refused to state his surname) was arrested on 29 January and his trial was held the next day.Barysausky Court Judge Lydzia Malchanava accused him of violating Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code (violation of the established procedure for holding meetings, rallies, marches, demonstrations, and picketing) and sentenced him to 5 days of imprisonment. The trial was closed, even the lawyer did not has the access to it. And Yauhen’s relatives could not pass him the parcel, because it was not accepted.
The second fan was arrested and convicted on 31 January under the same article. Judge’s sentence was also 5 days of arrest.The police are looking for the other fans, but without any results yet.
Press officer of the Department of Internal Affairs of Minsk City Executive Committee Siarhei Basko confirmed information that two BATE fans are serving a sentence for an administrative violation.
“Two people held administrative responsibility. Each of them was given 5 days term. Now the other participants of the action are being identified. We call them and have talks with them. I talked to the director of Public Safety of Barysauski Department of Internal Affairs, and he gave me this information. Once the action was illegal, and the participants did not have permission, they will hold administrative responsibility. We are going to invite them for the talks, what each of them was doing there. Maybe he thought that they were just taking pictures. There are around twenty people at the photo, and only 8-10 of them are holding posters. Maybe he is going to say that he did not know that. There are a lot of options. The names of those arrested? People expressed their position and were charged for that. If they want to show their faces, they will do it, it is their own business. But we are not obliged to do it, “- said Basko.
One of the BATE fans anonymously told journalists how the police were persecuting fans for holding an action of solidarity with the Ukrainian protesters. “Last weekend volleyball BATE played in two games indoors.There are surveillance cameras, on which one could see a group of people coming out after the end of the match and walking down the stairs at the entrance. Two of the people who were recognized were invited for a talk and shown the video recording. They recognized: ” Yes, it’s me going out to the street and going home.” However, they didn’t admit their presence in the photos with the posters in support of Ukraine. Nevertheless, the court has confessions from the both of them. I think they were just put before a choice: they could either plead guilty and get 5 days of arrest, or plead innocent and get 15 days. We do not know how many people have not been recognized yet. One or two have got calls from the police, but they said they would not go anywhere without a subpoena. They came to their homes, but one guy was not home at the time. By the way, he cannot be on the video, as he didn’t attend the match that day.”
Related articles
Semiannual review of 2013: the human rights situation is grave, without significant changes
, holding a white-red-white flag and posters: ){kind=link}