Belarusian Man Freed After Imprisonment for Wearing Shirt Criticizing President

Spent five days in jail

An opposition protester arrested in Belarus for wearing a T-shirt criticizing authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko was freed on Friday after spending five days in jail.

Leonid Smovzh, a 53-year-old railroad engineer, told The Associated Press that for the first two days he was held in a cell with no heat or light, and he was given no food.

He was arrested after a protest on Sunday for wearing a T-shirt on which he had written "For Belarus without Lukashenko." On the back it said "For Belarus without dictatorship."

"Why did I write this? So that I won't be ashamed to look my grandchildren in the eye when they ask, 'What did you do for us?' " Smovzh said.