Riot policemen and KGB burst into Young Front head office. Organisation leaders arrested

Riot policemen, policemen and KGB officers broke into the head office of the Young Front in Karol Street in Minsk. When breaking into the office, policemen broke two entrance doors of the head office. The leaders of the organisation Zmitser Dashkevich and Artur Finkevich, as well as 4 activists of the Young Front and an activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Paval Kuryanovich were arrested.

As one of the leaders of the Young Front Artur Finkevich told to the Charter’97 press-centre before the arrest, law-enforcers were watching for about an hour near outside the building where the apartment was rented by the Young Front activists. Then they rang the door and demanded to open. They didn’t show the search warrant, they simply said that they had received an anonymous phone call about a dead body in the apartment. When the doors were not open to them, policemen and riot policemen started to burst it by a tool reminding a sledge-hammer. Leaders of the Young Front Zmitser Dashkevich and Artur Finkevich with a few activists of the organisation were in the apartment at that moment.

After the search all opposition activists in the apartment were arrested. They were placed into a police car and taken to a police department of Maskouski department. Mobile phones of the detained were switched off.

As we have informed, last year in the run-up to the “European March” an activist of the civil campaign “European Belarus” Alyaksandr Atroshchankau was arrested. Policemen burst into his apartment through a window on the second follr (!) saying they had received a call that a dead body was kept in the apartment. They arrested Atroshchankau and seized all office equipment and informational materials from his apartment. Atroshchankau was sentenced to 10 days of arrest, allegedly for “using foul language”.

From the police department of Maskouski district Zmitser Dashkevich, Artur Finkevich and Paval Kuryanovich were sent to the detention centre in Akrestsin Street. They were kept there until 2 a.m. other detained were released without a report being drawn up. They were fingerprinted, videoed and pictured.