On 31 March the KGB office in Vitebsk region charged Leanid Svetsik with violating Article 131 (fomentation of national and religious enmity), and Article 367 of the Criminal Code (insulting the honour of the President). 

This is not the first time that the KGB office in Vitebsk has tried to punish Leanid Svetsik. In May 2008, KGB carried out a nine-hour search of Svetsik’s apartment in Vitebsk. During the search, the KGB confiscated Svetsik’s computer, printed human rights related material and a certificate from the Council of Europe. After the search, Svetsik was brought to the KGB office of Viciebsk region where he was interrogated for more than two hours.

Later, Svetsik and Uladzimer Bazan, the former editor-in-chief of the Vitebski Kurier newsletter, were warned and banned by the regional KGB office from commenting on details of the ongoing investigation on the case concerning the threats by the neo-Nazi organization Russian National Unity (RNE) to certain citizens, all for ‘security reasons’. Svetsik had assisted the threatened activists with the application to the appropriate state organs for protection. On 18 September 2008, the case was pending an experts analysis. In the meantime, travel restrictions were imposed on Leanid Svetsik. 

Svetsik is internationally recognized as a leading human rights defender in the Viciebsk region. He has participated in the preparation of five complaints concerning Belarusian authorities’ violations of citizens’ rights. All five were accepted for consideration by the UN Committee on Human Rights in Geneva. 

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