H. Pahanyaila: The inadequacy of the sentence points to political motivation
Human rights defenders say that the sentence to ten youth activists convicted for participation in entrepreneurs’ meetings is politically motivated and groundless. Entrepreneurs will provide countenance to Andrei Kim imprisoned for 1.5 years. The hearing of “Case #14” ended on April 22. It lasted for five days. A judge of the Central District Court of Minsk Alena Illina announced the court’s decision about the most notorious political case started since Kazilun’s time. By the way, she pronounced a sentence to Andrei Kim nine months ago:
Judge: “Kim is to be imprisoned for 18 months. He will serve his sentence in a colony. Pashkevich, Tsishkevich, Kryvau, Dubski, Straltsou and Charnyshou are sentenced to 2 years of restriction of freedom without having to go to a penal labour camp. All of them are to give a written undertaking not to leave their place of residence until they are registered by the correctional criminal inspection.
Let us remind you that the case was started after an entrepreneurs’ protest action against President’s decree #760 that took place in Minsk on January 10 and 21. The principal – Andrei Kim – was returned guilty of having beaten a driving inspector.
However, according to a human rights defender Alena Tankachova who attended all the hearings, the videos presented by KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affaires did not display the moment when Kim hit the driving inspector:
Tankachova: “No doubt that the fact that Kim’s sentence is like this is a demonstration of power. I attended all the hearings and I watched all the “video proofs”, - Kim did not hit him. The judge took the decision taking into account the evidence of policemen. And the testimony was contradictory and questionable. This is the only remark I can make from a professional juridical point of view”.
Let us note that there was not a single organizer of the protest action among the accused. One of them, Anatol Shumchanka, decided to provide countenance to Andrei after the verdict had been pronounced:
Shumchanka: “Speaking about the way to support Andrei… It is only possible to provide countenance to him while he is in prison…”
According to a human rights defender from the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahanyaila, the Belarusian authorities have abused the criminal legislation in connection with the processes taking place in the country again:
Pahanyaila: “The verdict and the very fact of prosecution are far from being an impartial evaluation of the actions of those who joined street protest actions to oppose to the government’s policy”.
According to Harry Pahanyaila, administrative cases could have been started against the young people because they went beyond the scope of an authorized action:
Pahanyaila: “The inadequacy of the prosecution and the sentence itself point to the political motivation of the case”.
Let us remind you that Minsk Central District Court refused to start a criminal case in connection with the fact of beating of Svyatlana Zavadskaya by a special police officer Davidovich. The beating of the wife of the missing ONT cameraman was recorded and there were pictures taken and broadcasted all over the world. However, the court decided that … there was no corpus delicti!
It is already known that the court decision may be appealed. At the end of the article we would like to present passages from Andrei Kim’s last speech before the verdict was pronounced:
Kim (in court): Even if I agreed with the prosecution, how could you think that I came to the meeting and made that senseless blow in the presence of many people and cameras and being sober (which was proved by the mental expertise)? How could I (a left-hander) hit a person who did nothing to me deliberately with my right hand? How could I continue walking calmly for several hundred metres...? It contradicts my conviction and common sense. This is all I wanted to say. I have only one appeal to the High Court Bench: I am asking for a fair decision. Thank you.
Photo by: Yulіya Darashkevіch, "Nasha Nіva"
Judge: “Kim is to be imprisoned for 18 months. He will serve his sentence in a colony. Pashkevich, Tsishkevich, Kryvau, Dubski, Straltsou and Charnyshou are sentenced to 2 years of restriction of freedom without having to go to a penal labour camp. All of them are to give a written undertaking not to leave their place of residence until they are registered by the correctional criminal inspection.
Let us remind you that the case was started after an entrepreneurs’ protest action against President’s decree #760 that took place in Minsk on January 10 and 21. The principal – Andrei Kim – was returned guilty of having beaten a driving inspector.
However, according to a human rights defender Alena Tankachova who attended all the hearings, the videos presented by KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affaires did not display the moment when Kim hit the driving inspector:
Tankachova: “No doubt that the fact that Kim’s sentence is like this is a demonstration of power. I attended all the hearings and I watched all the “video proofs”, - Kim did not hit him. The judge took the decision taking into account the evidence of policemen. And the testimony was contradictory and questionable. This is the only remark I can make from a professional juridical point of view”.
Let us note that there was not a single organizer of the protest action among the accused. One of them, Anatol Shumchanka, decided to provide countenance to Andrei after the verdict had been pronounced:
Shumchanka: “Speaking about the way to support Andrei… It is only possible to provide countenance to him while he is in prison…”
According to a human rights defender from the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Harry Pahanyaila, the Belarusian authorities have abused the criminal legislation in connection with the processes taking place in the country again:
Pahanyaila: “The verdict and the very fact of prosecution are far from being an impartial evaluation of the actions of those who joined street protest actions to oppose to the government’s policy”.
According to Harry Pahanyaila, administrative cases could have been started against the young people because they went beyond the scope of an authorized action:
Pahanyaila: “The inadequacy of the prosecution and the sentence itself point to the political motivation of the case”.
Let us remind you that Minsk Central District Court refused to start a criminal case in connection with the fact of beating of Svyatlana Zavadskaya by a special police officer Davidovich. The beating of the wife of the missing ONT cameraman was recorded and there were pictures taken and broadcasted all over the world. However, the court decided that … there was no corpus delicti!
It is already known that the court decision may be appealed. At the end of the article we would like to present passages from Andrei Kim’s last speech before the verdict was pronounced:
Kim (in court): Even if I agreed with the prosecution, how could you think that I came to the meeting and made that senseless blow in the presence of many people and cameras and being sober (which was proved by the mental expertise)? How could I (a left-hander) hit a person who did nothing to me deliberately with my right hand? How could I continue walking calmly for several hundred metres...? It contradicts my conviction and common sense. This is all I wanted to say. I have only one appeal to the High Court Bench: I am asking for a fair decision. Thank you.
Photo by: Yulіya Darashkevіch, "Nasha Nіva"
