Arrests of independent press distributors go on

On November 3, Barys Khamaida was detained when distributing press materials in Vitsebsk. It has been the second detention this week.

Barys Khamaida was detained in Vitsebsk near the so called Blue House, 30 Lenin Street. As militiamen told the oppositionists, the chief of the Chyhunachny district militia department had ordered to detain him, Radio Svaboda reports.

The independent press distributor wasn’t release unless militiamen wrote down titles of all newspapers he had.

According to Barys Khamaida, no reports against him were drawn up. Militia officers discussed about an hours what they should do with him, and another hours they spent looking through the printed materials – “Nasha Niva” newspaper, magazine “Arche”, books on Belarusian history.

Militiamen got especially interested in the book by Uladzimir Padhol “Kiss President in Different Places”, a collection of Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s quotations. The militia officers even read some pages.

Barys Khamaida has been detained for the second time this week. He had to spend 3.5 hours in the militia department on November 11.