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Prominent Vitsyebsk opposition activist Syarhey Kavalenka on hunger strike in jail

Prominent Vitsyebsk opposition activist Syarhey Kavalenka went on hunger strike after he was placed in a detention center on July 8, reported the Belarus Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, BelaPAN reports.

The 35-year-old member of the Conservative Christian Party reportedly said on Wednesday that by his hunger strike, he was protesting his 10-day jail term and the trumped-up charges of disorderly conduct that had repeatedly been brought against him.

Mr. Kavalenka was picked up by police near his home at about 9 p.m. on July 8 and jailed for 10 days for allegedly violating probation rules. Owing to the violation of the probation rules, the suspended sentence may now be converted into a prison sentence.

Syarhey Kavalenka’s younger brother, Vital, was released from jail on Tuesday night after he had served a five-day term for allegedly mouthing obscenities at police officers.

The brothers’ mother told BelaPAN earlier that authorities had apparently decided to isolate her sons for the period of the government-sponsored Slavyanski Bazar festival, which began in Vitsyebsk on the night of July 9 with Alyaksandr Lukashenka in attendance.