Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Rights group: More than 1,000 arrested in Belarus protests

by VOA News

   MINSK, BELARUS --

   A Belarusian human rights group says more than 1,000 people have been
   arrested for weekend protests in the former Soviet Republic and that
   about 150 of them have been sentenced to jail terms of up to 25 days.

   Opponents of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko held
   unsanctioned demonstrations Saturday in Minsk, the capital, and other
   Belarusian cities, at which arrests were widespread. Other arrests took
   place in Minsk on Sunday when demonstrators demanded to know the
   detainees' whereabouts.
   Authorities have made no comment on the arrests.
   Vladimir Lobkovich of the Vesna human rights group on Monday called the
   sentencings a ``judicial conveyor.''
   The weekend demonstrations were part of an unusually persistent wave of
   anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic.