Three opposition activists were given three-day jail sentences and one was sentenced to a fine following a ceremony that was held in Svislach, a small city in the Hrodna region, to commemorate 19th-century anti-Russian insurgents.
More than 30 people attended the event on October 27 and four of them were arrested by police. Alies Krot, Alies Ashurka and Stanislava Husakova were sentenced to three years in jail and Vital Lapasau was sentenced to a fine of three million rubels ($353). The Svislach District Court found them guilty of participating in an “unsanctioned event,” and using “unregistered symbols” for displaying the Belarusian historically national white-red-white flag.
Svislach, a city of 9,000 residents, is connected with Kastus Kalinouski (1838-64) and his brother Viktar (1833-62). The brothers studied at a school in Svislach. Belarus’ only monument to the national hero, Kastus Kalinouski, and the grave of Viktar Kalinouski are located in the city.
The Kalinouski brothers played a prominent role in the 1863-64 anti-Russian uprising in Belarus, Lithuania and Poland. Kastus Kalinouski was the main contributor to the underground Belarusian-language newspaper Muzyckaja Prauda (Peasants` Truth) whose first issue in July 1962 led to the beginning of preparations for the uprising, which broke out in January 1863.
He was a member of the insurgents’ secret Provincial Lithuanian Committee in Vilna (Vilnius). His writings made him popular both among the peasants and the gentry, which enabled the insurgent units under his command to grow rapidly. Owing to his successes, he was promoted to the rank of Plenipotentiary Commissar of the Government for Lithuania, which made him commander-in-chief of all insurgent units in the area of today's Eastern Poland, Lithuania and Belarus.
However, the insurgents were no match for the 120,000-strong Russian elite troops, with whom nearly 260 encounters were fought.
Kalinouski, who was betrayed by one of his own men and captured, was publicly executed in Vilna (currently Vilnius) on March 22, 1864 at the age of 26.
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