English

Sannikaw charged with organizing mass riot

Former presidential candidate Andrey Sannikaw on March 25 was charged with the organization of a "mass riot" in connection with a post-election demonstration that was staged in Minsk on December 19, 2010, said the interior ministry’s press office.

The offense involves personal violence, acts of wanton destruction, damage to property and armed resistance to officials. It is penalized by a prison sentence of between five and 15 years.
The press office said that investigators in Mr. Sannikaw’s case had obtained sufficient evidence of his guilt.

The statement suggests that the investigation of Mr. Sannikaw’s case is about to be completed, with its summary records to be given to the politician for an examination. The files are to be referred to the Prosecutor General’s Office to be further sent to court after Mr. Sannikaw studies them.

The ministry’s press office also said that investigators were preparing to amend charges against four post-election protesters whom it described as active participants in mass disorder. Referring to the protesters by their last names, Yaramyonak, Vasilevich, Hnedchyk and Mirzayanaw, the press office said that evidence of their guilt was "no less convincing."

The 57-year-old Sannikaw, leader of an opposition group called European Belarus, has been held in the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB) since his arrest during the police dispersal of the anti-Lukashenka demonstration.

He is among some 40 people charged in the riot case. //BelaPAN