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Another Malady Front member sentenced to 15 days in jail over attempt to splash Lenin statue with valerian tincture

A district judge in Minsk on Friday sentenced Raman Vasilyew, a member of an opposition youth organization called Malady (Young) Front, to 15 days in jail over an attempt to splash valerian tincture on the statue of Vladimir Lenin in Minsk’s Independence Square on the evening of November 6.

The sentence was handed down by Judge Tatsyana Matyl of the Maskowski District Court who is on the European Union’s blacklist of Belarusians subject to entry bans and asset freezes for their role in the government’s crackdown on political opponents.

The judge found Mr. Vasilyew guilty of “petty hooliganism” (disorderly conduct) under Article 17.1 of the Civil Offenses Code on the basis of testimony by a police officer.

The previous day, another Malady Front member, Uladzimir Yaromenak, received a 15-day jail sentence from the judge over the same incident.

A year ago, Mr. Vasilyew was sentenced to 10 days in jail after he and two other Malady Front activists threw eggs toward the Lenin statue in Independence Square during a rally that the pro-government Communist Party of Belarus held there on November 7 on the occasion of the anniversary of the October (Bolshevik) Revolution.

Malady Front then said in a statement that the egg attack was meant to remind the public of Communist crimes. //BelaPAN