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Belarusian Gets Jail Term For Anti-Lukashenka T-Shirt


MINSK -- A pensioner from the southeastern Belarusian city of Homel has received three days in jail for wearing a T-shirt bearing a slogan demanding President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's resignation.

Yury Rubtsou was found guilty on November 4 of not following police instructions.

He took part in a march to commemorate ancestors held in a Minsk suburb on November 3.

Rubstou's T-shirt carried a slogan that said, "Lukashenka, Go Away!"

Police arrested him after he ignored their request to take off the T-shirt.

At the trial in Minsk, Rubtsou recalled that Lukashenka had said in a televised statement that he would leave his post if the Belarusian people requested it.

"So, I have asked him to resign," Rubtsou said in his defense.

Lukashenka, who has been running the country since 1994, has been criticized by human rights organizations for his authoritarian rule.

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