Belarusian regime afraid of independent courts

The authorities say they don’t plan to establish the jury institution in Belarus.

Valery Kalinkovich, the deputy head of the Supreme Court of Belarus, said this on September 24.

“The judicial system of Belarus is regularly reformed, but such innovations, as the jury court, are not planned,” Interfax quotes Valery Kalinkovich.

He also noted that the national modern judicial system meets all requirements of time and emphasized that “one must find something inefficient to start reforming”.

“We have never liked too many reforms,” Kalinkovich added.

The website www.charter97.org reminds that Alyaksandr Lukashenka defines power of the Constitutional Court of Belarus by his decrees (it is officially called accretion of power), appoints and dismisses judges. Many trials over Belarusian opposition activists are held behind closed doors. Journalists, Belarusian and foreign human rights activists are not allowed to attend many trials.

Participants of a peaceful rally “No to Russian Occupation!” have recently stood closed political trials in Minsk. 17 opposition activists were detained and beaten up by militia.