Former UCP head says party leaders imprisoned for refusal to submit to intimidation

November 3, BPN. Authorities persecute the United Civic Party (UCP) leaders and activists because they kept working despite the crackdown, said Anatol Labiedźka, a former UCP chair.

The remarks follow a Minsk court’s ruling to impose prison sentences on three UCP leaders.

“[UCP Chair] Mikałaj Kazłoŭ was subjected to pressure and imprisonment,” Labiedźka told BPN. “He got out of jail but would not flee [abroad]. The UCP reopened offices [in Minsk and the regions], and people kept coming there. Kazłoŭ was planning 20 trips across the country. Of course, the authorities did not like it. They believed that entire Belarus was shaking with fear. But what they saw was a working organization that made plans and communicated with people.”

Labiedźka, a senior member of Belarusian opposition leader Sviatłana Cichanoŭskaja’s staff, said that authorities use the UCP members’ trials to intimidate the members and supporters of other democratic parties.

“Authorities have sent a signal to everyone: We want you to be invisible, to hold your breath and not to show any political activity,” the politician said.

The UCP was scheduled to hold its biennial party convention on November 6. The event will go ahead as planned despite the verdicts that authorities timed to coincide with the preparations, Labiedźka noted. Among other things, UCP members will discuss UCP leadership, since Kazłoŭ has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Labiedźka said that police may try to disrupt the convention.

On November 3, Minsk’s Pieršamajski District Court has sentenced Kazłoŭ and his associated to prison. Antanina Kavalova, former UCP deputy chair, was given a one-year term, and UCP Minsk chapter head Aksana Alaksiejeva, a term of 18 months.

At least 13 UCP members, including its leader, are behind bars, according to Labiedźka.