Mikalaj Dziemidzienka: Cleansings in Minsk were like ones during 1980 Olympics in Moscow

The Young Front activist was held in a “glass” cell all night.

Mikalaj Dziemidzienka told the charter97.org web-site about that.

“Yesterday, three hours before I was supposed to be released form the jail in Akrescina Street, Minsk Frunze district’s policemen came for me and took me there. At the police department they explained it to me, saying that I understood that the championship was not yet over. A protocol was composed against me under the article 17.1 of the Administrative Code, but promised to release in the morning. I did not believe, but this is what happened”, - he said.

The activist pointed out that he had been held in a “glass” cell all night.

“The conditions are bad there: tiled floor, a narrow bench, on which you cannot lie, and you have to sleep on the floor. Altogether the repression before and during the championship were quite broad, and the cleansings is Minsk were no less severe than the ones during the 1980 Moscow Olympics”, - the Young Front activist is convinced.

We would remind that within the past month policemen detained several dozen opposition activists. Human rights activists link the arrest to the fact that Minsk hosted the Ice Hockey World Championship.