Militia impedes signature collecting for Andrei Sannikov

• 13.10.2010, 8:43

A member of the initiative group for proposing Andrei Sannikov as a presidential candidate was detained by the militia in the town of Dzyarzhynsk at 8:30 pm on Tuesday.

Volunteer Alyaksandr Tarnahutski was collecting signatures in a tower block. A militia car drove up to him when he was standing at the house entrance. Militia officers asked what he had done in the house. Starnagutski told about the signature collecting campaign and showed his passport and a certificate of an initiative group member. Militia officers detained him and decided to draw up a report on absence of a retroreflector, the website of European Belarus civil campaign says.

When Tarnahutski showed militiamen a retroreflector, though it is allowed not to wear it in a housing area, and said he wouldn’t sign the report. The militiamen told they would find two witnesses who could confirm their words. They forced the volunteer to get in the car and drove to taxi drivers, who were made to sign the report. After that Tarnahutski was released. The militia offices told he would receive an order to pay a fine of more than 100,000 rubles.

The member of the initiative group is going to file a complaint at the actions of the militia.

It’s not the first time when the militia has hindered signature collecting for Andrei Sannikov. Another member of the initiative group Illya Shcharbinski was detained on Sunday. The guy was detained for he was carrying a EU flag to a picket, but he was accused of hooliganism and fined for using obscene language in public.