Four campaigners for opposition candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich were arrested after the candidate's March 8 appearance at a cinema on the outskirts of Minsk (RFE/RL)
Courts in Minsk on March 9 handed down 15-day prison sentences to Belarusian opposition leader Vintsuk Vyachorka, the deputy campaign head for opposition presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich -- the main political rival to incumbent President Alyaksandr Lukashenka in the March 19 presidential vote. Nine other Milinkevich supporters were also given the same sentence. All were found guilty of organizing unsanctioned campaign stops in Minsk the previous day. Two days earlier, a Milinkevich supporter was heavily fined, and another jailed, on similar offenses. It appears that Lukashenka's regime is doing what it can to prevent the public from meeting with members of the political opposition in the run-up to the vote.
