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Malady Front Deputy Chairman Mikalay Dzemidzenka sentenced to five days in jail

Mikalay Dzemidzenka, deputy chairman of an opposition youth organization called Malady (Young) Front, was sentenced Tuesday to five days in jail.

According to the Malady Front website, Mr. Dzemidzenka was apprehended by police on his way home on Tuesday afternoon. He later phoned his wife to say that he was staying at a police station where he was ordered to sign a paper saying that he was warned about the inadmissibility of participation in unsanctioned events in connection with the anniversary of the crackdown on a post-election protest in Minsk on December 19, 2010. He said that he would likely be allowed to go home soon, but an officer of the Frunzenski District Court in Minsk informed his wife over the phone a few hours later that he had been given a five-day jail sentence. The officer did not say on what charges he had been sentenced.

According to Malady Front, also on Tuesday, police officers visited the home of Kasya Halitskaya, a prominent activist of the organization, and told her to sign a paper saying that she was warned against participating in any unsanctioned events on December 19. The officers filmed her signing the paper and then searched the apartment and seized some old printed materials. //BelaPAN