ATO fighter on trial in Minsk
A trial is held in the Minsk Frunze district court these days of an ATO fighter (anti-terrorist operation, which takes place in the east of Ukraine) Taras Avatarau detained at the railway station of the capital on November 26, 2015. The trial began with a surprise. The arsenal that was shown across the country on Belarusian TV simply was not mentioned in the charges. In particular, the prosecutor did not say anything about a Makarov pistol, which was pompously shown on television. It turned out that the it was a signal gun that was not charged.
Taras was accused of trafficking to Belarus a hand-grenade. According to the prosecutor, it was transported by car "Daewoo Lanas" through the border crossing point "Novaya Huta". Then it was carried by electric trains - from Homiel to Zhodzina and Minsk.
A witness at the trial, who was an attesting witness at the detention of Taras Avatarau described the things seized from Avatarau:
"Right Sector note", black-and-red flag, chevrons, red and black swastika (probably witness is mistaken, the prosecution did not report anything about the swastika - Euroradio), black worn gun, which, as I was told, is not a combat weapon, and a grenade from a grenade launcher. I know how it looks, because I used to serve too... ".
Taras Avatarau is charged under Part 2 of Article 295 ("Illegal actions in respect of ammunition") and Part 2 of Article 228 of the Criminal Code ("Contraband").
"No, I have not smuggled any weapons. If the experts considered a training signal grenade - weapons, then I partially admit the charges," said Taras to judge.
The judge also questioned a young patrol policeman who detained Avatarau:
"We saw a sleeping citizen. There was a vest sticking from under his jacket. We decided to ask why and where he was from. We approached him, woke him up and asked. He said that the Constitution does not forbid to be in a flak jacket. We decided to check him against the data bases and asked him to go to the station. Then more experienced staff talked to him. We asked if he had banned substances. He had a backpack. We went into the room of the investigative expert group. Then a personal search was carried out. We started to take out things. We saw a grenade, it seems, in the right pocket of the jacket, an operations officer took it out. We hancuffed him. He had a gun, passport, cards, paper saying he took part in the fighting, flag... ".
In general Taras Avatarau behave very easily in court. From the outset he made some bold statements. First of all, he prohibited for the Russian media to film him, although journalists did not violate the law.
"I defend Fatherland, and what were you doing in Ukraine?" the accused asked Russian journalists.
Taras asked to release him from criminal responsibility under amnesty in connection with the anniversary of the Victory.
Also, the defendant requested a meeting with the head of the KGB Valery (Vakulchyk - Euroradio), whom he believes to be a person who "understands". He wanted to talk to him about some "internal" affairs, and not to speak to the media about "violence and torture, which he experienced in jail."
"Also, I could not get acquainted with the case, the investigator demanded that I got acquainted with it in less than 4 hours," Taras Avatarau further exposed the law enforcement system.
He accused openly smiled when listening to the prosecutor, and he even laughed the most at the words of the witness mentioning a note from the "Right Sector".
