Minsk city court refuses to release Russian citizen

The Minsk city court has refued to release Aliaksandr Baranau - the first Russian citizen detained during the non-sanctioned action on December 19 in Minsk. The court has not satisfied the appeal to shorten the term of detention (10 days) to the term he has already served.

The Russian citizen explained in his appeal that he had not participated in the demonstration and just happened to be in the area of mass disturbance. According to him, he was going to visit a girl and was standing at the city traffic stop at the moment of detention, reports RIA Novosti.