Hearing of Yuras Aleinik’s Suit Lasts 7.5 Hours
The court hearing on the suit of Yuras Aleinik, expelled from the Academy of Management, began quite nervously. Judge Prakapovich removed one of Aleinik’s witnesses from the courtroom for taking pictures without permission. Human rights defender Alena Tankachova was let down by her smile – and also was asked to leave the room. Many people attended the hearing. Oke Peterson, former head of OSCE office in Minsk, who left Belarus today at 5 a.m., had come for half an hour and remained till the end. He even sacrificed an Independence Day celebration party in the US Embassy.
The interests of Yuras Aleinik were represented by lawyer Larysa Atamanchuk, and public representative Aleh Hulak. Yuras appreciates his help:
“The results of the hearing were quite predictable. But the very fact that our reasons are proved in court in the presence of witnesses, that the absurdness of the present situation is revealed – this is completely Hulak’s merit”.
Five witnesses gave evidence on Aleinik’s side. The Academy of Management delegated Tatsiana Pechaniova, deputy dean for upbringing, to the court hearing. According to Yuras Aleinik, she gave inconsistent evidence, but the judge took it seriously. Simultaneously, the evidence given by Aleinik’s witnesses was rejected.
The judge did not grant Yuras’s request to analyze the group registers.
As we have reported earlier, Yuras Aleinik insists, his expulsion is an evidence of discrimination and violation of his constitutional rights. In his opinion, in order to prove the fact of discrimination, the court should look through the registers of all 4th year groups of the Academy. Instead, the judge decided to consider references about several students of the Academy who had been expelled recently. In response to the judge’s refusal of Aleinik’s request, he challenged the judge.
“I think the judge is incompetent in this particular issue and does not make enough efforts to solve the situation”, -- Yuras Aleinik explains.
However, the judge also denied the challenge and appointed the next session of the hearing for the next morning.
Today’s session began at 9.30. The verdict will possibly be made today. The straight-A student has no illusions about the final decision of the court.
