European Humanities University issues a public statement in support of Mikalai Dziadok

Europos humanitarinio universiteto Studentų atstovybė

European Humantites University Students‘ Self-government Board

APPEAL TO INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

The Students’ Self-government of the European Humanities University (EHU) is appealing to the international community with a request of support and solidarity with the EHU student Mikalai Dziadok (Nikolai Dedok).

Mikalai Dziadok, a second-year student of the European Humanities University, has spent more than three months under detention following absurd charges.

We believe it to be our duty to share with you the Legal Opinion on Dziadok’s case (see Appendix), as we cannot stay aside in view of the grave lawlessness in the Republic of Belarus.

We urge the international community not to be indifferent to this problem. We hope that in this crucial moment a blind eye will not be turned to the problem of human rights violations in Belarus, to the humiliation of human beings and to the failure to comply with the principles of international law.

Mikalai Dziadok is a hostage to the political situation in Belarus. As you know, on December 19 the Belarusian presidential elections will be held. There are reasons to believe that those crimes, for which Mikalai is allegedly accused, were perpetrated by entirely different individuals. Based on the fact that the investigation does not have any direct evidence and is being conducted with violations and in a clearly fraudulent manner, we can assume that Mikalai is accused of crimes he has not and could not have committed. All available facts testify to it.

The Belarusian authorities are talking increasingly more about the "democratization" in the country. The "democratization," in a Belarusian context, means that opponents of the regime and people like Mikalai are held like hostages in prisons, where they are framed with false accusations to hastily get rid of political problems (to close the case of the firebomb attack on the Russian Embassy in Minsk).

We call upon people with high moral standards. We call upon people who are consistent in their beliefs and values. We call to show the solidarity with Mikalai Dziadok.

 European Humanities University
Students’ Self-government Board President  
Maksim Milto

Europos humanitarinio universiteto Studentų atstovybė

European Humantites University Students‘ Self-government Board

A P P E N D I X

The Legal Opinion on Mikalai Dziadok’s case

Dziadok, Mikalai Aliaksandravich (Dedok, Nikolai Aleksandrovich), born on 23 August 1988, was originally detained on 3^rd September 2010 and placed to the detention center at Akrestsin Str. in Minsk by an operative of the Chief Department for Combating Organized Crime of the Ministry of Interior of Belarus on suspicion of committing a crime stipulated in Article 339 Part 2 of the Criminal Code. He was suspected of committing an attack on the Russian Embassy in the evening of 30 August 2010.

This detention was followed by other ones on each third day until 24 September 2010. In defiance of the provisions of Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, all the detentions were conducted despite the lack of a legal foundation which can be the only cause for detention. As every new detention was conducted immediately at the detention center, Dziadok was never released following the end of previous detention duration.

Moreover, Dziadok’s lawyer has repeatedly noted in her complaints that there is no reason to detain him, as Dziadok is fully socially adapted, has permanent residence in Minsk and is employed by a legal firm, has graduated a law school and is a distant student of a university, lives with respectable parents and has never been involved in any wrongdoings. However, these complaints were ignored by prosecuting agencies.

One has to note that in violation of Article 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Dziadok’s right to legal defense was not respected. Despite the provisions of Article 41 of the Code, the detaining authorities failed to provide Dziadok with copies of all orders of investigators concerning the institution of criminal proceedings against him. In other cases no copy of booking Dziadok on suspicion or no copy of detention records was provided. In a number of copies of orders even reasons for detention were missing.

One of the cases suggests that Dziadok was detained as a robbery suspect, despite the fact that prosecuting authority of the Interior Department of Leninski district of Minsk had been aware of the absurdity of this suspicion, since the stamps in Dziadok’s passport indicated that during the crime period he was outside Belarus, namely at university in Lithuania, and later in Poland. The unlawfulness of this detention is testified by the fact that the criminal proceedings against Dziadok’s were dropped in this case in October 2010.

A copy of the record of detention of Dziadok by the Interior Department of the Savetski district of Minsk on 21 September contains no information at all regarding the crime he was suspected of.

Europos humanitarinio universiteto Studentų atstovybė

European Humantites University Students‘ Self-government Board

In violation of the Article 41 Part 2.4 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the prosecuting authority did not allow Dziadok to notify the family about his detention and location. The family members had to search for him.

One also has to keep in mind that as long as a full day after the decision to take Dziadok into custody as a suspect on 24 September 2010 at 3pm, family members were not informed about his location as the prosecuting authorities provided them with false data. During this day Dziadok spent almost 24 hours without food and elementary hygiene facilities in a cold cell of the Interior Department of the Central district of Minsk.

The prosecuting authorities fail to provide a reason why Dziadok’s family members are denied visiting him during all his stay in custody, though he fell ill with cold for several days while kept at the Pre-Trial Detention Center Nr 1 in Minsk. He is also denied elementary medicine by the administration of the Center; again no reasons were given.

A charge of malicious hooliganism (Art.16 Part 1 and Art.339 Part 2 of the Criminal Code) brought against Dziadok on 1 October 2010 is also unlawful, as the offence he was suspected of when instituting criminal proceedings did not contain formal components (corpus delicti) of malicious hooliganism, since none of the three parts of the Article 339 of the Code stipulates such an element as “conducting deliberate acts that have entailed the disorganization of work of a state institution under the General Staff of the Defense Ministry of the Belarusian Armed Forces”.

The decision by the prosecuting authority of the Minsk City Executive Committee’s Chief Interior Department on 1 November 2010 to prolong the custody term for Dziadok until 6 February 2011 and the term of pre-trial investigation until 12 January 2011 is also unlawful.

The illegality of the criminal prosecution actions is proven by contradictory arguments and the complete lack of evidences of guilt. By no means could they be used as the rationale for extending the detention period. Regarding the Dziadok’s own testimony as the proof of guilt is illegal, when he consistently denied any involvement in any crimes.

Moreover, Art. 127 of the CCP suggests the possibility of extending the detention exists only if there are grounds for such a preventive measure and there are no grounds for the application to the accused any other measures. The identity of Mikalai Dziadok has been well established and it clearly indicates that there are grounds for the application of preventive measures not connected with imprisonment.

Europos humanitarinio universiteto Studentų atstovybė

European Humantites University Students‘ Self-government Board

The abovementioned analysis indicates the absence of legitimate and sufficient evidences under Arts. 117 and 126 of the CCP as the basis for application to Dziadok a preventive measure in the form of detention, as well as extending the detention period. In particular, his criminal case contains no reliable evidence that he may escape the criminal prosecution and trial or in any way hinder the investigation or a preliminary examination of the case by a court, and even more so, to commit a socially dangerous act.

At the moment Mikalai Dziadok is the Žodzina city prison No. 8 (Žodzina, Minsk region, Belarus, Savieckaja street 22A).