Mikalai Statkevich Arrested For Five Days

Other protesters against the Brest battery plant have been fined.

The Leninski district court of Brest held trials over participants in the rally of opponents of the battery plant construction, which took place at the central square of the city on October 14.

It is known that politician Mikalai Statkevich, bloggers Siarhei Piatrukhin and Aliaksandr Kabanau, and several other people detained during the rally spent the night in a pre-trial detention center. Human rights activist Raman Kisliak, who had been summoned to the police, did not come out of the police department either, Radio Svaboda reports.

Aleh Vialau, who was detained near the Leninski district police department on October 14, filed a request for a lawyer, the trial was postponed till October 16.

Raman Kisliak was taken by an ambulance from the Leninski district police department to the hospital, and he had high blood pressure. He was detained after on October 14, he appeared on summons at the Leninski district police department. He spent the night at the police station. The human rights activist says that he has recieved a summons for October 18, he will be tried for participation in the rally that took place yesterday. Now he is being examined at the hospital.

Dzmitry Andrasiuk was punished with a fine of 40 basic units (980 rubles).

The following participants were fined 10 basic units (245 rubles):

Vital Kozak,

Uladzimir Kazlouski,

Uladzimir Maroz,

Ryhor Pahartsau,

Andrei Slizh.

Pensioner Liudzmila Karcheuskaya was sentenced to 5 basic fines (122 rubles 50 kopecks).

In the evening, one of the last to get convicted was Mikalai Statkevich – he was sentenced to 5 days in jail.

The trials of bloggers Siarhei Piatrukhin and Aliaksandr Kabanau were postponed till October 16, they filed requests to give them time to conclude contracts with lawyers.

Protest events of the battery plant opponents have been held in Brest every Sunday for several months. Usually they pass quietly, without slogans and banners. However, during the last two weeks, some participants were detained and tried.

We remind that yesterday, after the rally against the construction of a battery factory in Brest, people went to the paddy wagon to ask if their activists, bloggers Siarhei Piatrukhin and Aliaksandr Kabanau would be detained again, or a summons would send to them.

The riot policemen took the bloggers to the paddy wagon, and then came out and rounded up Mikalai Statkevich. The protesters went to the Leninski district police department to lend moral support to the detainees. On the way, the police detained several more people. According to human rights activists, the number of detainees after the rally in Brest was more than 10 people.