Belarus Updates: Head of Air Force Arrested
Saturday, December 25, 2010 at 10:41
1820 GMT: A second court hearing will be held on Monday for 11 Russian nationals among the more than 600 people detained after Sunday's protest in Minsk over the Belarussian Presidential election.
Many of those who took part in the protests have been sentenced to up to 15 days in prison. Russia has requested that its nationals be released.
On Wednesday, Belarusian authorities released press photographer Alexander Astafyev of St. Petersburg.
1045 GMT: The full video has been posted of a heated debate over the Belarussian situation on Russian television's Last Word.
1040 GMT: The Ministry of Defense has announced in a statement on its website that the head of the Air Force, Major General Igor Azarenok, has been arrested on suspicion of abuse and negligence of authority.
The statement gave no further details over the timing and circumstances of the arrest, and there is no indication if it is connected to protests over the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Instead, the statement gave a long explanation on how the levels of crime in the Belarussian armed forces "were amongst the lowest in the world", declaring that order depends on the "systemic fight against crime" and Belarus has an "uncompromising approach to those guilty of violations, irrespective of their position and record".
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