National Bolsehvik leader sentenced to short prison term

Yauhen Kontush, leader of the Belarusian National Bolsheviks movement, was detained by the police when leaving his house at around 9 last morning.

The reason for the detention is still unknown. Another activist of the movement, Dzmitry Paliyenka was detained last evening and taken to the police station. It was also known that the police "hunted" Aliaksandr Paliakou, but he managed to escape arrest.

Human rights activists say the wave of preventive arrests may be caused by the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the CIS, which will begin its work in Minsk on October 24.

Yauhen Kontush was later taken to the court of Maskouski district and charged under Art. 17.1 of the Administrative Code for alleged disorderly conduct. The case was examined by Judge Yury Sezin.

As a result, the activist was sentenced to 5 days of arrest.