Palienka’s Release In Courtroom Met With Cries “Long Live Belarus!”

The Tsentralny district court of Minsk sentenced Dzmitry Palienka to two years of imprisonment with a two-year suspension of the sentence.

The activist of the Critical Mass event was found guilty of assaulting a police officer and dissemination of pornographic materials through the Internet. The court ordered to release Dzmitry Palienka in the courtroom, Radio Svaboda informs.

When the activist was walking out of the cage, he was greeted with applause and shouts “Long Live Belarus!”

Dzmitry Palienka was arrested after the break-up of the Critical Mass rally on April 29 and has been in jail since that time. As it became known at the trial, which took place on October 11, Dzmitry Palienka admitted at the beginning of the investigation, that he had violated the traffic regulations, when he was taking part in the cycling rally, but he hadn’t assaulted the police officer and done harm to him.

Dzmitry Palienka did not change his testimony during the long investigation, and refused to give it at the trial. Dzmitry called the current political regime in Belarus a dictatorship in his last statement, and said that he was being persecuted for his political activity. Palienka believed that the apparition of the episode about the alleged distribution of pornographic materials was revenge for his political activity. Dzmitry said that he had never distributed pornography.

After his release, Dzmitry Palienka thanked all those, who had been supporting him and said he would appeal the verdict, as he did not consider himself guilty. Also the activist is going to appeal the court verdict on compulsory treatment of his alleged alcoholism.