Two Belarusian Activists Forced Into Army
January 30, 2009
Police in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, have taken two young opposition activists into custody and transferred them to military recruiting stations, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.
Both Ivan Shyla of the Youth Front movement and Franak Vyachorka of the Belarusian People's Party had medical deferrals that exempted them from military service. The deferrals were suddenly reversed.
Belarusian Helsinki Committee Chairman Aleh Hulak told RFE/RL that the incident could be classified as an illegal arrest.
Hulak said the secret services should not be involved in army recruiting, and activists were supposed to get letters telling them to report to military recruiting stations, which was not the case.
Yuras Hubarevich, a Belarusian opposition politician, told RFE/RL that officials are simply removing the two activists from society.