Opposition Party Leader Arrested in Rally Near Russian

UNCLAS MINSK 000738 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM BO SUBJECT: Opposition Party Leader Arrested in Rally Near Russian Embassy ¶1. (SBU) On July 17, a Belarusian court sentenced United Civic Party (UCP) leader Anatoly Lebedko to 10 days in jail for "minor hooliganism" for attempting to participate in a July 16 protest near the Russian Embassy in Minsk. Authorities also charged activist Evgeny Askerko, whose trial followed Lebedko's, but all remaining detainees were released on July 16. ¶2. (SBU) The July 16 attempted protest aimed to focus international attention on repression in Belarus as part of the "Days of Solidarity" protest and to urge Russia during the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg to cease its support of the Lukashenko regime. [Note: Opposition activists have commemorated the "Day of Solidarity" on the sixteenth day of every month since September 16, 2005, the sixth anniversary of the disappearance of opposition activists Viktor Gonchar and Anatoly Krasovsky.] ¶3. (SBU) Poloff observed that Belarusian police detained as many as 40 people near the Russian Embassy, including UCP leader Anatoly Lebedko and opposition activist Zmitser Barodka. At the time of his arrest, Lebedko had been speaking with journalists. Poloff did not observe police use violence against Lebedko, and on July 17 UCP party representatives informed the Embassy that Lebedko suffered "no physical harm." ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT: The GOB's virtual singling out of Lebedko for arrest during the G-8 Summit and so soon after the sentencing of opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin to five and a half years in prison would appear to be another, albeit much smaller, act of defiance by the Lukashenko regime to Western pressure for political reform. KROL