In a statement to BosNewsLife monitored Sunday, March 30, Britain-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said over 80 people were arrested Tuesday, March 25, in the capital Minsk "during a rally to mark the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Belarus as an independent country."
The demonstrators wanted to use what is known as ‘Freedom Day’, to speak out against President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule and "the human rights abuses taking place in the country,” the group explained.
CSW’s Advocacy Director Alexa Papadouris told BosNewsLife that the "heavy-handed approach used to quash the protests" is “indicative of the wider repression of human rights defenders and religious organizations," including churches.
EVANGELICAL GROUPS
Several evangelical groups and churches are also among those harassed by security forces, local Christians and investigators have told BosNewsLife. Authorities in Belarus have denied human rights violations and accused the United States of running a "spy ring" in the country.
However CSW said abuses became clear this week when many of the detained protesters "were brutally beaten and detained by police, and some former political prisoners who had recently been released following negotiations between the EU and Belarus were re-arrested."
Most received a 1 5-day prison sentence on charges of “violating the order of organizing or holding mass events.” Among those detained is human rights defender, Zmitser Dashkevich, who was released in January 2008 after spending more than a year in prison, CSW said.
RIGHTS DEFENDER
Dashkevich was previously jailed in November 2006 for his involvement in a pro-reform youth movement. He was reportedly charged with "organizing or participating in the activity of an unregistered non-governmental organization."
Dashkevich was also fined the equivalent of $817 last year for refusing to reveal the names of his friends in the Young Front movement, prompting a European Commission statement urging the Belarusian authorities to release all political prisoners.
"We condemn the recent actions of the Belarusian authorities and urge them to immediately release all those detained for peacefully protesting," CSW Advocacy Director Papadouris told BosNewsLife. "The Belarusian authorities must engage civil society activists like Zmitser Dashkevich, rather than repeatedly trying to silence them with prison sentences."
