Criminal Case Against Union of Poles’ Activist Taken to Court :: Charter'97 :: News

The criminal action brought up against the head of Hrodna city branch of the Union of Poles in Belarus Mieczyslaw Jaskiewicz has been taken to the court of Kastrychnitski district of Hrodna. The Charter’97 press-center has been informed about that by an activist of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andrzej Poczobut.

The UPB activist was charged with violation of the article 339 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (hooliganism). As said by A. Poczobut, on November 5 Mieczyslaw Jaskiewicz was detained by policemen and placed to a remand prison of Kastrychnitski district of Hrodna for a few days. Mieczyslaw Jaskiewicz was detained late at night at a trolleybus stop. As said by policemen, he had started a fight, so a criminal action was brought up against him under Article 339 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism). On November 7 Jaskiewicz was released.

It is not the first occasion of the UBP activists’ prosecution.

The chairman of the Union of Poles in Belarus Andzelika Borys and a few UBP activists were detained at Lithuanian-Belarusian border on October 29. They were detained as a packet with an unknown powder had been allegedly found in their car. Hrodna regional customs office brought up a criminal action for drugs trafficking. According to the State Customs Committee, “the unknown powder” was heroin.

As we have informed A. Borys called the incident a provocation of Belarusian law-enforcing agencies and told that she had nothing to do with the packets.