An activist of a regional headquarter of oppositional candidate Alexander Milinkevich has been convicted to 5 months of imprisonment. Sergey Liashkevich’s case is the first court case in Belarus with the use of so called ’antiterroristic’ amendments, which were moved to Criminal Code  just before elections on the initiative of the KGB. (30-MAY-06)

Source www.euramost.org, www.svaboda.org Illustation www.svaboda.org

Sergey Liashkevich, the head of one of the regional headquarters (Ghrodno oblast), was arrested on the 4 March 2006. The activist was accused of instructing people to start disorders in the streets of Minsk using weapons on Election Day, 19 March. Last Monday, 29 May, the trial was held in open court.

In the capacity of proof of guilt…
Statements of three witnesses with previous convictions; audio recording, which was so difficult to be taken into pieces so judge read it; and videocassette and disks confiscated from Liashkevich’s apartment were presented as proof of his guilt. After watching the film in court it became clear that this was just the video clip “Not ordinary concert”, where Belarusian singers sing against the background of documentary chronicle of mass actions of protest in Minsk. 

‘Showing off’ but not a trial 
The judge found Liashkevich guilt and gave him five months of prison. The public prosecutor Grigoriy Dinko was satisfied with the court’s decision: “This is almost the same punishment I have asked for. From my point of view everything is OK.” Liashkevich’s defenders called the trial ‘showing off’, because in their opinion, it was not found even one decisive proof against criminal defendant in this criminal case. Aliaksandr Galiev , the lawyer, wistfully noticed that he did not want to give political coloration to this case, but in the situation when the judge takes as the proof a video film, which every Belarusian can have at  home, it can not be perceived seriously.

If you watch film about a war, you are going to kill someone!
HR defender Victor Sazonov has commented happened events like this: “The whiteness’s statements come down to “we were thinking he was going to agitate us for terrorism”. The main whitness, who has written denunciation to Liashkevich, was judged three times.  Certificates of good Liashkevich’s conduct were presented to the court. Up to the video tape this is exactly the same that BT (Belarusian State Television) shows about opposition. So, it comes out that if you watch BT you are a potential terrorist. According to this logic- if you watch film about a war you are going to kill someone! This is nonsense!”

This trial is a political order
The leader of the united opposition Aleksandr  Milinkevich, who came to support the activist, said that this trial is a political order. “ Grodno region acts as the ‘range’, where authorities test alike legislative innovations. Certainly, the main reason of this process is active and expert participation of  our headquarters’ activists  in electoral campaigns”. Sergei Liashkevich’s last speech was very short. He just asked to make out his case objectively and sustain fair sentence. He will be set at liberty on the 14th of August 2006.