President sides with law enforcement in high-profile conflicts

Last week, TUT.BY journalist Pavel Dobrovolsky and two activists were detained and beaten by law enforcement officers at the courthouse before the ‘graffiti’ case hearing. Later, based on the testimony of MIA representatives, the journalist and activists were awarded large fines. In addition, the judge issued an unexpectedly soft decision against three graffiti artists who were also fined. Meanwhile, at the board meeting of the Interior Ministry, which discussed the results of 2015 and plans and tasks for 2016, President Lukashenka did not publicly comment on the incident with the journalist and only talked about the lack of serious complaints about the work of the police. Tough action against the journalist by the Belarusian militia was unlikely sanctioned by the senior Belarusian leadership. However, amid deteriorating economic situation, the president was prompted to demonstrate loyalty to the law enforcement bodies.