23-year-old worker at “Naftan” oil refinery, the leader of the unregistered public organization “Union of Young Intellectuals’ Andrei Haidukou was arrested on 8 November, 2012. According to the official information, allegedly he was arrested during laying a dead drop “with information that may be interesting for foreign intelligence services.”
Disseminated information of unlawful activity
On 13 November 2012, the State Security Committee (KGB) disseminated information on the suppression of unlawful activity of a citizen of the Republic of Belarus, who was engaged by a foreign intelligence in the collection and transmission of information of political and economic nature. As a result, the detainee faced criminal charges under Par. 1, Art. 356 of the Criminal Code of Belarus (high treason in the form of intelligence activities). But during the trial the charges were reclassified.
States that the conviction is groundless
Representatives of the opposition and human rights defenders think that the reason for the prosecution of Haidukou is his civil activities. The defence of the convicted activist intend to appeal against the conviction.
Belarusian Helsinki Committee and the Human Rights Centre “Viasna”, made a joint statement , which states that the conviction of Haidukou is groundless and politically motivated.
Human rights defenders say that the conviction of Haidukou is “largely aimed at increasing the role and significance of the KGB in the State using methods that are unacceptable in a democratic society, while deprivation of liberty was used in violation of the right to a fair trial, and other rights and freedoms guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the duration of detention is clearly disproportionate (inadequate) to the offense of which the person has been convicted”.
From the statement of Valeryi Vakulchyk, the Chairman of the State Security Committee, that came out at the end of May 2013, it became known that the criminal case against Haidukou had reached court and was expected to be considered in a closed court hearing; the indictment was not changed. According to human rights defenders, “this excessive activity of the KGB head, not the prosecution, who is supposed to be defending the charges in court, in disclosing details and prospects of the trial was evidence of the possible impact of the State Security Committee on the findings and the procedural decisions of the court”. “Taking into account the social significance of the case, the nature of the charges leaves no doubt that the consideration of it in court was to be held in compliance with the principle of transparency, as there were no prerequisites for its restriction as provided by law”, – says the statement.
Demands immediatly release
The movers of the statement demand to immediately release Andrei Haidukou, to overturn the illegal sentence imposed by the court and to guarantee its revision, subject to the right to a fair trial.
Human rights defenders also arrive at a conclusion that the preliminary investigation and the trial were completely closed and non-transparent, despite the increased interest in the case among the public and the media.
Besides, the authorities failed to provide any justification for the consideration of the case in a closed court session. Given the fact that Haidukou was initially charged with committing a grave crime, and later his actions were reclassified to a less serious crime, it can be assumed that the need for consideration of the case in a closed trial was motivated by a desire to conceal from the public the unlawful methods of the investigation and the provocation of the accused in the commission of a crime” – is said in the statement.
According to human rights defenders, such qualification of the offense by the court shows, that “the KGB misled the public, while the KGB did not establish the fact of entering by a national of the Republic of Belarus into illegal cooperation with the security agencies of a foreign state”. It is highlighted in the statement, that having established the circumstances, the KGB continued to induce Haidukou to commit a graver crime, thus committing a provocation.
Limited meetings with the lawyers
The authors of the statement also noted that Haidukou’s right to legal protection was violated during the investigation; the investigators arbitrarily limited his meetings with the lawyer. The contacts with his family were limited to occasional correspondence subjected to surveillance and censorship. As a measure of affecting Haidukou’s lawyer, the investigation warned him of criminal liability for disclosure of information of the investigation.
“This measure, too broadly applied in practice, severely limits the ability of the lawyer to defend the interests of his client”. – the statement says.
Human rights defenders point out that Article 356-1 was introduced into the Criminal Code of Belarus in November 2011. “Belarusian human rights defenders stressed the inadmissibility of the use of non-specific definitions in the criminal law, including allowing for their arbitrary and expanded interpretation” – is stated in the statement.
“Conviction to imprisonment are arbitrary”
Human rights organizations also highlighted that the act for which Haidukou was convicted belongs to the category of crimes that do not pose a danger to society. A person accused of committing it cannot be subjected to the measure of restraint in the form of custody.
“Analysis of the available data does not allow to conclude that the judicial sentence of imprisonment is well grounded. In our view, the fact that the court found Haidukou guilty of attempting to commit a crime that belongs to a category that does not pose a great danger to society, while not being previously convicted, did not allow the court to apply imprisonment to the convict. Thus, his detention and conviction to imprisonment are arbitrary’ – is emphasized in the statement of the Belarusian human rights defenders.
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