English

Pavel Vinahradaw given five-day jail term over «toy protest»

A district judge in Minsk on Monday sentenced prominent young opposition activist Pavel Vinahradaw to five days in jail for staging another "toy protest" in downtown Minsk on December 10.

The 24-year-old leader of Zmena, the youth wing of the "Tell the Truth!" movement, was found guilty of acting in violation of regulations governing "mass events."

The judge of the Pershamayski District Court heard the case against Mr. Vinahradaw very quickly, Andrey Dzmitryyew, deputy chairman of the "Tell the Truth!" movement, told BelaPAN.

"Pavel has already been put on trial 10 times this year and sentenced to a total of 66 days in jail," Mr. Dzmitryyew said. "He was not arrested and jailed immediately after the toy protest because the authorities want to keep him behind bars on December 19, the anniversary of the 2010 post-election demonstration."

The charge of staging an unsanctioned demonstration was brought against Mr. Vinahradaw on Wednesday morning.

The toy protest took place opposite the National Library of Belarus. Zmena activists scattered more than a dozen stuffed animals at the scene and planted signs that said, "Only one percent of the Belarusians have an active civil stance," "Our higher education diplomas are not recognized abroad," "The rubel has become three times cheaper in a year," "Many Belarusians go abroad to earn money," "Someone has already been at the helm for 18 years," "Twelve citizens of Belarus are in prison because they do not like the incumbent president," "How did this happen?" All messages were deliberately misspelled.

Fifteen minutes into the protest, police officers arrived at the scene, collected the toys and the signs and drove away.

In May 2011, Mr. Vinahradaw was sentenced to four years in prison in connection with a post-election protest staged in the Belarusian capital city on December 19, 2010. He was among 11 post-election protesters pardoned by Alyaksandr Lukashenka on September 14, 2011.

Since then, Mr. Vinahradaw has repeatedly been arrested for allegedly shouting obscenities in public places.

On April 10, Mr. Vinahradaw was placed under "preventive" police supervision. He is prohibited from leaving Minsk without police permission and required to stay at home from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. and report to probation officers on a regular basis.