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Mikita Likhavid expected to spend 10 more days over December 2010 post-election protest

Former political prisoner Mikita Likhavid has been notified that he will have to spend 10 more days in jail over the December 19, 2011 post-election demonstration, BelaPAN said.

Mr. Likhavid, currently 22 years of age, was initially sentenced to 15 days in jail. However, five days after the protest, his sentence was annulled and he was charged under the Criminal Code with instigating disturbances and participating in them.

In March 2011, a judge of the Partyzanski District Court in Minsk sentenced the young man to three and a half years in a medium-security correctional institution. He spent a total of 81 days in a disciplinary cell.

Mr. Likhavid was released on September 14, 2011, after being granted a presidential pardon. He subsequently joined a prisoners' rights group called Platforma.

According to the Belarus service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Mr. Likhavid has recently received a letter from his district police officer ordering him to present himself at the detention center on Akrestsina Street in Minsk to serve the remaining 10 days of his jail term. Other political prisoners who did not complete their jail terms are getting similar letters from their district police stations, which insist that there is no statute of limitations on their offenses, the report said.

Mr. Likhavid believes that the decision to send him to jail is illegal, considering that more than three months has passed since his sentencing, and that the same offense cannot be punished twice under Belarusian regulations, the report said.