Charges in Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou’s Case Are Aggravated

At 10 a.m. on 11 December the trial over the former deputy editor of the Zgoda newspaper Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou started at Minsk city court. Zdvizhkou is accused of fomenting the religious enmity for having reprinted in the paper the cartoons of the prophet Mohammad from a Danish newspaper in February 2006.

Even before familiarization with the essence of the case Zdvizhkou challenged the judge Ruslan Aniskevich, but the prosecutor did not satisfy this petition. At 12 a.m. the present people were ordered to leave the court hall. Thus, the trial turned into a closed one.

Despite this, HRC Viasna managed to find out that Aliaksandr Zdvizhkou received harder charges. At first he was accused of fomenting religious enmity, whereas now he is charged under part 2 of article 130 of the Criminal Code – ‘fomenting of racial, national or religious enmity, committed by a duty official with the use of the official powers’. This article provides 3-10 years of jail.