Police station instead of meeting with the President

On March 17 the leader of Baranavichy entrepreneurs Mikalai Charnaus wanted to go to Minsk for an announced meeting between entrepreneurs and the dictator.

But instead of the meeting with Aliaksandr Lukashenka a public activist got an individual interview at the City Police Station. Police captain Siarhei Pavlenia had a preventive talk with Mikalai about the need of law compliance, Viasna Human Right Center reports.

"Late in the evening on March 16 I got a mobile call from the police and was urgently invited for a meeting to the police department at 10 a.m. to discuss, according to a police officer, important documents related to my public activity. Certainly, I might not even appear there without official summons. But I have been repeatedly taken off the train, detained in the city, my apartments have been searched many times, even in the hospital they've watched me. Therefore, I didn't want to aggravate difficult relations with law enforcement authorities and came to the meeting", the entrepreneur told.

As a result, for the past 2 weeks he have been warned twice not to hold rallies, marches, pickets without authorization from city authorities.

The public activist is sure that the urgent invitation to the police was, first of all, connected with their intention to prevent him from going to Minsk for a formal entrepreneurs' meeting with the President.

On March 17 at the Expobel shopping center Lukashenka met with individual entrepreneurs. It was the first meeting for the past 10 years. Since January 1, 2016 all businessmen will work under equal conditions. There will be no delay anymore. Lukashenka stated that at the meeting on issues of regulation and development of certain types of business activity.