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Three key opposition politicians sentenced to fines

Three key opposition politicians who were arrested and taken off a Moscow-bound train by police early on March 28 were sentenced to fines on Thursday, BelaPAN said.

Anatol Lyabedzka, leader of the United Civic Party; Syarhey Kalyakin, leader of the "Spravedlivy Mir" (Just World) Belarusian Party of the Left; and Alyaksandr Atroshchankaw, a member of European Belarus, had planned to travel from Moscow to Brussels for meetings with European Commission representatives before they were arrested in Orsha on their way to the Russian capital.

In a closed-door trial, Natallya Baytsova, a judge of the Orsha District Court, found the men guilty of disorderly conduct and sentenced them to a fine of 350,000 rubels each.

As Mr. Atroshchankaw told BelaPAN, the politicians were accused of using obscene language, a charge routinely used by authorities to jail political opponents.

"We were arrested on a far-fetched pretext," he said. "We were held in a detention center for nearly two days. This is obviously connected with our plans to travel to Brussels and speak to reporters in Moscow. They have foiled our trip."

Mr. Atroshchankaw condemned the trial as a "disgrace" for law enforcement agencies. "The witnesses could not say how and where we uttered obscenities. They said that I had been swinging my arms in the train," he said.

Mr. Atroshchankaw had his request to be represented by a lawyer rejected by the judge.

The politicians, who had been held in custody since the arrest, were released in the courtroom.

Messrs. Kalyakin and Lyabedzka are known to be among a dozen politicians, human rights defenders and journalists who were placed by the Belarusian authorities on a foreign travel ban list earlier this month after the European Union imposed travel bans and asset freezes on more citizens of Belarus. Mr. Atroshchankaw, a former political prisoner, is likely to be under the ban as well.

In an interview with a Russian TV channel last week, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said that some opposition figures were under a travel ban because they instigated the West to use sanctions against Belarus. He warned that more names would be added to the travel ban list.