Valiantsin Stsiefanovich: If 50, 100 thousand people come to the streets - the people will decide :: Charter'97 :: News

“Today there is a tendency in Belarus when any demonstration, any civil protest in the center of Minsk is regarded as a violent breach of the peace, actions are brought against organizers. Although the actions that Statkevich, Seviarynets, Klimau were accused of, were peaceful and did not comprise formal components of a crime. But this lasts till a definite moment. A demonstration with 5-10 thousand people can be broken up easily and criminal proceedings can be taken against some of the participants, but with 50-100 thousands the people will make decisions. The people, who have the right to choose, to change the leadership of the country in a peaceful way, if this leadership contradicts the demands of the people,” - the lawyer of the human rights center “Viasna” Valiantsin Stsiefanovich commented to the Charter’97 press center on the recent trials of the Belarusian opposition leaders accused of organization of mass protest actions.

According to the human rights activist, he was told by militiamen that “a demonstration with 5-10 thousand people is easy to break up from the technical point of view.” “A mechanism has already been worked out: the place of an action is blocked, activists are detained and so on. Militiamen say with 20-30 thousand people it is much more complicated technically. And if you remember the actions of 1996, it was impossible to break up a 50-thousand “Charnobylski Way”. The same concerns the “Freedom Marches” of 1999-2000,” - Valiantsin Stsiefanovich added.