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Jailed Belarusian Activist's Lawyer Not Allowed To See Him


Jailed Belarusian activist Zmitser Dashkevich
Jailed Belarusian activist Zmitser Dashkevich
HORKI, Belarus -- Jailed Belarusian political activist Zmitser Dashkevich's lawyer was not allowed to see him on July 28 in a labor camp in the eastern town of Horki, RFE/RL's Belarus Service reports.

Dashkevich's fiancee, Nasta Palazhanka, who is also an activist, says that labor camp officials told attorney Maryana Syamashka she could not see her client because he is in solitary confinement.

Palazhanka said Dashkevich has been put in solitary confinement three times in the last several weeks.

Palazhanka, who like Syamashka was refused admission to the labor camp on July 28, told RFE/RL that, from a judicial point of view, the decision by the camp's administration to bar Syamashka from seeing her client is illegal.

Under Belarusian law, a lawyer has a right to see his/her client at any time, whatever the circumstances, Palazhanka said.

Dashkevich, head of the political organization Youth Front, and Youth Front activist Eduard Lobau were sentenced on March 24 to two and four years in jail, respectively, after being found guilty of assaulting two people in Minsk on December 18, one day before the country's disputed presidential election.

Dashkevich and Lobau pleaded not guilty. They say the cases against them are politically motivated.

Read more in Belarusian here
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