On October 23, Minsk court sentenced Belarusian citizen, human rights activist Yekaterina Sadovskaya to two-year imprisonment and a fine of $1,800 for criticizing Belarusian authorities, Radio Liberty informs.
Investigator of Minsk public prosecutor’s office demanded a three-year imprisonment for the 60-year-old woman. However, the court took into consideration that 84-year-old mother and disabled husband are dependent on Sadovskaya for support.
Appeals to boycott March elections, at which Alexander Lukashenko was presidential contender for the third time, as well as to carry out the president’s psychiatric examination were contained in document, written by Sadovskaya. The court ascertained that the appeal was sent to nobody, being kept in her computer.
Sadovskaya does not admit guilt. She stated that people were sentenced even for thoughts in Byelorussia, adding that Lukashenko transformed human rights into mere empty words. She called her sentence prosecution, caused by political motives per sample of trials of people’s enemies during the Soviet times.
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-Philippines: Eduardo Millares (50), who was an active member of an urban poor group named Samahan ng Magkakapitbahay sa Tabing-Riles (SMTR-Association of Neighbours along the Railroad) was murdered, while his companion Victoriano Cariño (42) who was also shot, survived the attack. The SMTR is a local chapter of a national group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay-Timog Katagalugan). Send a letter about it
-Thailand: Mr. Muhammad Dunai, a village headman who had been assisting villagers who have been persecuted by the state and assisting the 58 Takbai protesters who are facing trial was shot to death near his home, after he received a phone call and went out.
Mr. Hassan Yamalae, the village headman of Village no.3, Talo of Yata sub-district in Raman district, Yala province, was shot dead together with his colleague Euramae Lehmoh (39) while returning on a motorcycle on the main road from shopping in Raman district. He and his villagers had reportedly complained during a meeting with staff of the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand about the brutality of the security personnel during the raid on his village on September 13.
-Ethiopia: Ms. Yalemzewd Bekele, a lawyer working for the European Commission Delegation in Addis Ababa, and a volunteer for the Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association (EWLA), who has been involved in several human rights and civil society projects, has been arrested.
-Syria: Writer and journalist Michel Kilo remains jailed on trumped-up charges, after a court ordered his release.
Posted by marga at October 24, 2006 8:49 AM | TrackBack