Shushkevich Fined For Participating In Belarusian National Congress

The Tsentralny district court of Minsk fined the first head of independent Belarus with $320.

The first leader of independent Belarus, former speaker of the Supreme Council Stanislau Shushkevich was fined 30 basic units – Br 6.3 million ($ 320), – for participating in the founding meeting of the Belarusian National Congress on the basis of Part 2 of Article 23.34 of the Administrative Code of Belarus, BelaPAN reports.

This decision was made by the judge of the Tsentralny district court of Minsk Victoryja Shabunia on May 24.

Shushkevich didn’t appear in the court, but since he hadn’t submitted a request to postpone the hearing of the case, the judge decided to hold the meeting today.

According to the Court, the ex-speaker of the Supreme Council took part in a rally, which wasn’t sanctioned by the Minsk City Executive Committee, “was holding speeches with a loudspeaker and shouting slogans”

The inspector of the police department of Tsentralny district Dzmitry Shantar acted as a witness in the court. According to him, “he personally was filming at the rally, while Mr.Shushkevich was taking part in it, addressing people through a megaphone”.

The police officer claims that Shushkevich was warned of responsibility for participation in an unsanctioned rally, and that a protocol was drawn against Shushkevich on the spot.

“The police representatives said that people should leave the place, and Stanislau Stanislavavich left exactly after the warning,” – said Shantar in the court.

It should be noted that, according to the judge, the protocol was sent by mail.

Aleh Lukyanau, a Minsk OMON (riot police) platoon officer, also witnessed in the court. He claimed that he didn’t know Shushkevich personally, but he “had seen him on TV”.

According to Lukyanau, the riot police officers went on patrol to protect public order in the park named after Yanka Kupala on May 15.

“We were ordered to protect public order in Yanka Kupala Park dressed in the civilian uniforms. We were informed that if there was a crowd, we should approach it and monitor the situation,” – the platoon officer said.

He stated that the police officers were watching about 90 people holding white-red-white flags in the park. When asked by the judge, how exactly Shushkevich participated in the event, Lukyanau said: "He was actively discussing the political life of the country."