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Opposition activist who put white-red-white flag on Christmas tree sentenced to three years in prison with probation

Opposition activist Syarhey Kavalenka, who created a scandal in January by putting a white-red-white flag on top of Vitsyebsk’s tallest Christmas tree, was sentenced Friday to three years in prison with probation over the incident, BelaPAN reports.

A judge of Vitsyebsk`s Kastrychnitski District Court found the 35-year-old member of the Conservative Christian Party guilty of “deliberate actions that grossly disturb the public order and show evident contempt of society” and of resisting police officers.

Judge Yawhen Burunow also ordered Mr. Kavalenka to pay 3.5 million rubels ($1,175) in damages to the three police officers who arrested him during the incident, opposition politician Pavel Sevyarynets told BelaPAN.

In addition, the accused was ordered to pay 1,222,000 rubels ($410) to the city’s street lighting company Harsvyatlo in compensation for alleged damage to toy snowflakes on the Christmas tree and 62,000 rubels to the city`s landscpaing company for two broken branches.

Speaking at the hearing, Mr. Kavalenka pleaded not guilty, describing the incident not as an act of hooliganism but as a "political act."

Mr. Sevyarynets said that the judge had interrupted the activist`s speech several times in violation of rules.

The public prosecutor in the trial had demanded a three-year "restricted freedom" sentence for Mr. Kavalenka.
On January 7, Mr. Kavalenka climbed the 130-foot (40-meter) high collapsible Christmas tree and placed the historically national flag on top of it before the eyes of hundreds of people who were present in Vitsyebsk’s downtown Victory Square, which was for the first time made the city’s main venue for New Year/Christmas celebrations.

Mr. Kavalenka was arrested after he descended the tree and the 6x12-foot flag remained on the tree for 15 minutes before it was removed by emergency workers with the help of an aerial ladder. Mr. Kavalenka spent five days in detention and then was released on his own recognizance. 

Friday two members of an opposition youth group called Malady Front were sentenced to fines on charges of disorderly conduct for putting white-red-white flags on roofs.

In their trials held at Minsk’s Tsentralny District Court, Uladzimir Yaromenka was sentenced to a fine of 1,050,000 rubels ($350) and Yuliyan Misyukevich was fined 525,000 rubels.

According to Malady Front spokesman Stanislaw Stesik, Messrs. Yaromenka and Misyukevich were caught by police on Friday morning after they came down from the roof of a building near the Presidential Administration in downtown Minsk.

As Mr. Stesik told BelaPAN, Malady Front activists all over the country planted white-red-white flags on Friday in the framework of a traditional campaign called “The City is Ours!” on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of a national referendum that resulted in the replacement of the white-red-white flag by a Soviet-style red-green flag as a state symbol of Belarus.

In the controversial May 14, 1995 referendum, held on President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s initiative, 75 percent voted for replacing the white-red-white flag, with 65 percent of those eligible taking part in the vote.

After the 1995 referendum, the flag became a symbol of opposition to the Lukashenka government and an indispensable attribute of street protests in the country.