Kasinerau Arrested For Solidarity With Palienka

The activist was found guilty because “a statement of personal opinion was not provided for by the legislation”.

On August 18, the Tsentralny district court of Minsk considered the administrative case of the activist Viachaslau Kasinerau. He is accused under part 3 of Art. 23.34 of the Administrative Code of Belarus for participating in a rally in support of the anarchist Dzmitry Palienka, who is now under investigation and is kept in the detention center №1 in Valadarski Street in Minsk.

Tatsiana Mastykina and Uladzimir Vashkevich acted as witness in the court.

According to the Human Rights Center “Viasna”, Viachaslau Kasinerau explained to the court that it has turned 3 months from the date of brutal crackdown of cyclists race “Critical Mass” on July 29. Another race should have been held, but due to the constant pressure on the participants of the movement, the format of the event has been dramatically changed. Then the activists held a picket in front of the Opera House under the close supervision of a large number of security officials. As a result, police officers in civilian clothes approached Kasinerau and “invited him to pay a visit” to the police department. Kasinerau explained that he was expressing his own opinion in that way.

The judge Tatsiana Rak explained that the statement of personal opinion was not provided for by the legislation.

The lawyer asked the witness about Dzmitry Palienka: who he was and what he represented. The witness explained that Palienka was a political prisoner.

The judge ordered to punish Kasinerau with a fine of 40 basic units – 840 BYN.