[ Belarus Opposition Leaders Protest Election Crackdown - NTD ]
The Minsk-based human rights group said the authorities already filed charges against presidential candidates who were arrested in mass demonstrations during the Sunday elections, according to an Agency France Press report.
Thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in the capital of Minsk on Dec. 19 to protest election results, after incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko claimed victory almost 80 percent of the votes.
Riot police used force against the demonstrators, and many individuals were arrested and beaten, including journalists and human rights activists.
Unidentified individuals wearing masks were filmed by a Russian TV station smashing windows and doors of a government building. It is believed the individuals provoked others to also attempt to storm the building, Russian newspaper Novaja Gazeta reported.
Several detained candidates were released by Belarusian officials on Tuesday. Three others, including the main political opponent, Vladimir Nikolaev, remain in detention centers in the Soviet-style security service called KGB, although Nikolaev’s whereabouts remain unknown. The two other men are Gregory Kostusev and Dmitry Uss.
Nikolaev was last seen when he was taken from a hospital Sunday night, after he was beaten by police during the demonstration.
Meanwhile, close to 600 people were sentenced by Belarusian courts for participating in Sunday’s mass protests. They were given 5 to 15 days of administrative detention, and most were charged for “hooliganism.”
The Domestic ministry threatened to arrest all of the protesters, and announced it would identify all individuals who took part in the demonstrations and charge them, Russia’s state-run Interfax news agency reported.
Belarusian officials said the government might shut down opposition organizations and political parties that were involved in the mass demonstrations.
Members of Minsk-based human rights organization Vesna were also arrested and its office was raided. An estimated 15 plainclothes police officers entered the office without a search warrant and confiscated all of the organization’s materials, including computers and documents, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Only after the incident did Vesna discover the officers were from the Minsk regional police division.
“Vesna is just one of many nongovernmental groups paralyzed by the Belarusian authorities in the aftermath of the elections,” HRW said in a statement. “Since Vesna was actively involved in election-monitoring, the raid and the arrests raise concerns that the authorities were trying to prevent them from criticizing the elections.”
The United States said it would not recognize the victory of incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko as legitimate. It also called for immediate release of all detained presidential candidates and protesters.
