MINSK, March 2 (RIA Novosti) - Police in Belarus have released a candidate in the March 19 presidential elections who had been detained earlier Thursday, the candidate's press secretary said.
Nina Shedlovskaya said Alexander Kozulin, the leader of social-democratic party Gramada, was not feeling well and had been bleeding from the nose and mouth.
Kozulin was about to undergo registration at the All-Belarusian Assembly, currently being held in Minsk, when police detained him inside the building and took him to a police station in the capital's Oktyabrsky District.
Minsk prosecutors have accused Kozulin of hooliganism.
First Deputy Prosecutor Nikolai Starovoitov said the candidate had pushed a policeman during registration and then damaged a picture of President Alexander Lukashenko at the police station.
The president called the incident a provocation.
Meanwhile, Kozulin is facing a fine, one to two months of community service, or a five-day administrative arrest.
