Aliaksandr Vasilevich’s trial to be held in private
The trial in the case of the political prisoner Aliaksandr Vasilevich was closed “in the interest of protecting state secrets and other secrets protected by law,” reports Mediazone.
According to Judge Maryna Fiodarava, the criminal case will address issues of the financial and economic activities of other companies listed in the indictment.
Vasilevich is charged under Part 2 of Article 243 of the Criminal Code. He was detained on August 28, 2020, and spent 514 days behind bars waiting for his trial. The case will be considered in the Saviecki district court of Minsk.
Aliaksandr Vasilevich is a businessman, co-founder of online magazines kyky.org and The Village–Belarus, owner of the marketing communication agency Vondel / Hepta and the art gallery “Ў”. In the summer of 2020, he was detained twice. The first time was when he came to the KGB to file a petition to change the preventive measure for Viktar Babaryka. Vasilevich was accused of "actively participating in an unsanctioned rally" and shouting “Freedom to Babaryka!” He was sentenced to 14 days of administrative imprisonment.
Aliaksandr disagreed with the protocol, served his administrative arrest in a detention center, was released and once again detained on August 28 by officers of the Department of Financial Investigations of the State Control Committee. His apartment, office, and the companies he managed were searched.
On September 4, Vasilevich was charged. Nadzeya Zeliankova, Vasilevich's wife, is also a suspect in the criminal case. On December 2, 2020, while Aliaksandr was in custody, their daughter Urshulia was born. From behind the bars, he wrote a fairy tale book for his daughter that tells stories about himself, the penguin, and prison. It was published as an e-book and put out in the public domain by Aliaksandr’s wife. In 2021, Aliaksandr as an author of the book became one of the winners of the Frantsishak Aliakhnovich Prize for works based on personal prison experience.
