Valery Schukin’s trial to start 6 June

The court trial on the case of well-known rights’ defender and journalist Valery Schukin is to start 6 June at 14.30 in the Pervamaisky district court of Vitebsk.

Valery Schukin is charged of insulting the members of the Vitebsk regional electoral commission and members of district commission 52 of Vitebsk. After the elections to local soviets, which took place in Belarus 14 January 2007 the rights’ defender, distributed leaflets telling that the members of electoral commissions participated in falsification of the elections’ results.

It is remarkable that the members of the electoral commissions didn’t lodge claims on bringing a criminal case against the rights’ defender for their insulting. The criminal case was brought by public prosecutors of Zheleznodorozhny and Pervomaisky districts of Vitebsk.

According to Valery Schukin, the public prosecutors had no right of bringing the criminal case. This Article of the code requires the existence of a claim lodged by an insulted person, the rights’ defender considers.

Source: www.charter97.org