Belarusian Activist Found Guilty Of Threatening Police
Activist Artur Finkevich in court on March 23
March 24, 2009
MINSK -- The Soviet District Court in Minsk has found a Belarusian youth activist guilty of "making oral threats to police" and fined him around $200, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reports.
Artur Finkevich, the leader of the unregistered Young Belarus movement, was arrested on March 21.
Police say Finkevich threatened them using bad language. They say he was drunk and also stepped on the foot of one of the policemen.
Finkevich told RFE/RL that all of the accusations are groundless, adding that local authorities are trying to pressure opposition movements in the run-up to March 25, the day marked by activists as Freedom Day.