Roma Rights Defender Attacked in Belarus

13 November 2006

At around 9:30 PM on 3 April 2006, six young men reportedly attacked Mr Mikola Kalinin, a Roma rights activist, on the street in Minsk, according to a 6 April report by the Belarusian nongovernmental organisation Charter 97. Charter 97 quoted Mr Kalinin, who stated that the six men and one woman approached him when the woman said Mr Kalinin had insulted her. At this point, one of the men punched Mr Kalinin in the face and he fell unconscious. The attackers also reportedly hit and insulted Mr Kalinin's father who was with him before leaving the scene. Mr Kalinin was quoted as having stated that he had never seen the woman before the attack and that he believed the incident had been planned in advance because of his activism on Romani issues.

(Charter 97)