Three VIP officials got behind bars in first three months of 2013

Interior Ministry

Tacciana Poludzen: "It's difficult to say what I expected. Three and a half years... This is not much compared to numerous convictions of other citizens previously."

Thease are the words by the wife of Yauhen Poludzen — former deputy Interior Minister. On March 25 Supreme Court's Military Collegium sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison and stripped him of Colonel military rank. Poludzen had served almost 1.5 years in prison before the sentence already.

Poludzen was in charge of public safety at the Interior. It was under his command when on December 19, 2010 the police attacked 'presidential candidate Nyaklyaeu's column' and mopped up Independence Square and in the summer of 2011 detained 'silent protesters.' But it is unlikely that the former high-ranking police officer was sentenced fot those actions of his men.

The trial was held behind the closed doors. It is only known that the bribery charges of receiving 100 liters of diesel fuel, cognac and a cake were dropped. It remains a mistery even for Tacciana Poludzen who has not seen her husband for 1.5 years what 'the office abuse' was alll about.

The deputy minister was detained on December 9, 2011. He was facing office abuse charges under Article 424 (3) in Penal Code and from three to ten years in prison if convicted.

It was really a bad spell for the Interior. Sick minister Anatol Kulyashou did not show up in his office for a week. He was temporarily taken over by his first deputy — Col Aleh Piakarski. But on January 16 the latter was dismissed by Aliaksandr Lukashenka as well for "discrediting the rank of police force officer." The only difference was that Poludzen was dismissied after criminal proceedings had been opened against him.

Aleh Piakarski disappeared from the grid right after his dismissal. Poludzen will walk out free only in two years. Meanwhile, the Interior was rocked by yet another corruption scandal: the arrest of Col Uladzimir Krotau, the head of Internal Affairs Department at the Interior. He is charged with office abuse under Article 426 (2) in Penal Code - from two to six years in prison with or without a fine.

Minsk City Hall

Yauhen Poludzen's wihe has a point: compared to the sentence for first deputy Mayor of Minsk Ihar Vasilyeu, her husband was lucky. On February 11, Minsk Regional Court sentenced deputy Minsk mayor to 14 years in prison. For 52-year-old Vasilyeu, this may sound like life in prison.

The former high-ranking official was found guilty of accepting a bribe from a Czech company for facilitating a contract to construct a waste-processing plant. Euroradio found the Czechs from whom Vasilyeu allegedly extorted $500.000. They said: we did not give the bribe to deputy Minsk mayor!

But one of the witnesses — Vasil Ananyeu — testified in court how on July 6 he personally brought a case with the first part of the bribe to Vasilyeu's office. The transaction was being controlled by KGB agents. The deputy mayor was detained on the same day. It is worth noting that at that moment Ananyeu was at KGB detention center as well yet on another matter. It was in the KGB detention center where he wrote his statement that he was going to pass the money to Vasilyeu.

Prosecutor asked 15 years in prison for Vasilyeu - the maximum under Article 430 (3). The judge sentenced him to 14 years but in a high-security prison. The former official pleaded non-guilty.

Council of Republic

On March 15 Minsk City Court sentenced Hleb Biadrytski, former chief of staff at the Council of the Republic to 8 years in prison.

This case is even more mysterious than the case of Ihar Vasilyeu. The trial was held behind the closed doors. Biadrytski was detained in October 2011 in his office. According to a source at the Interior Ministry, he was in possession of a huge amount of money at the time of detention. However, Biadrytski was not charged with graft. He faced the charges of embezzlement (Article 210) and office abuse (Article 424) or up to 12 years and 10 years in prison, correspondingly.

Hleb Biadrytski was sentenced to 8 years in a high-security prison. When he finishes his term, he will be 45 years old.

Who is next?

Apparently, three high-profile sentences will not be enough. Apart from Uladzimir Krotau, mentioned above, there is yet another high-ranking official behind bars - former Homel mayor Viktar Pilipets.

He was detained for fraud in the process of distributing 25 public money-funded apartments in Homel. He is facing office abuse charges (like Poludzen) and from three to 10 years in prison if convicted. Arrested on September 19, Pilipets is still being held for investigation.

Photo: BelTA, news.21.by, newsgomel.by.