MINSK -- A pensioner from the southeastern Belarusian city of Homel has received three days in jail for wearing a T-shirt bearing a slogan demanding President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's resignation.
Yury Rubtsou was found guilty on November 4 of not following police instructions.
He took part in a march to commemorate ancestors held in a Minsk suburb on November 3.
Rubstou's T-shirt carried a slogan that said, "Lukashenka, Go Away!"
Police arrested him after he ignored their request to take off the T-shirt.
At the trial in Minsk, Rubtsou recalled that Lukashenka had said in a televised statement that he would leave his post if the Belarusian people requested it.
"So, I have asked him to resign," Rubtsou said in his defense.
Lukashenka, who has been running the country since 1994, has been criticized by human rights organizations for his authoritarian rule.
Yury Rubtsou was found guilty on November 4 of not following police instructions.
He took part in a march to commemorate ancestors held in a Minsk suburb on November 3.
Rubstou's T-shirt carried a slogan that said, "Lukashenka, Go Away!"
Police arrested him after he ignored their request to take off the T-shirt.
At the trial in Minsk, Rubtsou recalled that Lukashenka had said in a televised statement that he would leave his post if the Belarusian people requested it.
"So, I have asked him to resign," Rubtsou said in his defense.
Lukashenka, who has been running the country since 1994, has been criticized by human rights organizations for his authoritarian rule.
