Salihorsk: Young Front activist Ivan Shyla sentenced to 8 days of arrest
Ivan Shyla, Deputy Chair of the Young Front,
was detained on 13 July in the evening in the town supermarket. The hearings on
his case started at the Salihorsk District Court Yesterday, but were postponed
to 15 July after he demanded to be provided with advocatory services.
Though the lawyer was unable to come to the trial today, the judge didn't grant
the motion for postponing it. He also dismissed the motion for summoning
witnesses of the defendant.
During the questioning at the trial Ivan said that his justification would be a
miracle due to the present political circumstances. Six police officers were
questioned at witnesses at the trial, including the Deputy Chair of the
Salihorsk police, who is responsible for brutal detentions of participants of
silent protest actions in Salihorsk.
“The people who were present at the trial note the bold behavior of the Deputy
Chair of the Salihorsk police. I had the impression that its was Mr.
Kryvaltsevich who lead the trial, not Judge Burautsou. He expressed his
disrespect to all participants of the trial at the hearing,” commented Ivan's
brother, Illia Shyla.
It's worth noting that two more people detained during the 13 July actions were
tried on 14 July. Andrei Tychyna was sentenced to 9 days of arrest and Aleh
Bakht was fined 350,000 rubles. According to the people who were present at the
trials, it is Deputy Chair of the Salihorsk police Kryvaltsevich who really
determines the results and the process of the trials. He gives orders to the
“police witnesses” and consults the judges during the breaks in the hearings.
At the trial, Ivan's defense solicited for the provision of the video
recordings and the register of the telephone calls from the Salihorsk District
Police Department, as far as he had been detained much earlier than the time
that was indicated in the police report (7.10 p.m.). In fact, at 6.50 p.m. he
was already at the police department.
Predictably enough, the police “didn't maintain the register of telephone calls
and video recording”, and even provided a corresponding document.
