MINSK -- Belarusian opposition activist Vadzim Kabanchuk has been sentenced to 10 days in jail for taking part in an unsanctioned protest in Minsk on December 19, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
Kabanchuk's mother, Taisiya Kabanchuk, told RFE/RL she was not able to attend the trial as she was not told where it would be. She spent hours at Minsk's Moscow District Court, thinking the trial would be held there, before police officials told her that her son had been sentenced.
Kabanchuk, the campaign manager of former Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Vital Rymasheuski of the Christian Democratic Party (BKhD), was arrested on February 13 at the Kamenny Loh border crossing while returning by bus from Lithuania.
Police confiscated about 100 pamphlets in Belarusian and Russian about the political and social situation in Belarus after the disputed December 19 presidential election.
Rymasheuski and other opposition presidential candidates were among hundreds arrested December 19 in Minsk during mass demonstrations against the official results of the election that declared incumbent President Alyaksandr Lukashenka the runaway winner.
The detained candidates were charged with organizing mass unrest.
Rymasheuski was released from jail on January 3 but ordered not to leave Minsk until the investigation into the charges against him is completed. Three former presidential candidates remain in detention.
Read more in Belarusian here
Kabanchuk's mother, Taisiya Kabanchuk, told RFE/RL she was not able to attend the trial as she was not told where it would be. She spent hours at Minsk's Moscow District Court, thinking the trial would be held there, before police officials told her that her son had been sentenced.
Kabanchuk, the campaign manager of former Belarusian opposition presidential candidate Vital Rymasheuski of the Christian Democratic Party (BKhD), was arrested on February 13 at the Kamenny Loh border crossing while returning by bus from Lithuania.
Police confiscated about 100 pamphlets in Belarusian and Russian about the political and social situation in Belarus after the disputed December 19 presidential election.
Rymasheuski and other opposition presidential candidates were among hundreds arrested December 19 in Minsk during mass demonstrations against the official results of the election that declared incumbent President Alyaksandr Lukashenka the runaway winner.
The detained candidates were charged with organizing mass unrest.
Rymasheuski was released from jail on January 3 but ordered not to leave Minsk until the investigation into the charges against him is completed. Three former presidential candidates remain in detention.
Read more in Belarusian here
