HR defender Paplauny: “The judge that tried me has no right to administer justice in future”

Homel human rights defender Anatol Paplauny has addressed Justice Minister Viktar Halavanau with an appeal, demanding to provide legal assessment to the actions by a judge of Homel Tsentralny District Court, who reportedly pronounced an illegal sentence to the activist.

In particular, Mr. Paplauny demands to provide explanations on why the judge’s verdict was based on a nearly blank police report, which resulted in the activist’s imprisonment for 15 days.

“As long as the report did not mention any witnesses, I can only conclude that they appeared after the report was drafted, i.e. their testimonies cannot be viewed as admissible evidence in the case”, says Anatol Paplauny in his appeal to Minister Halavanau.

The human rights defender also sent a letter to Homel police chief, demanding to provide legal assessment to the actions by policemen, who were engaged in perjury in court. The letter is accompanied with over 10 written testimonies by witnesses, which controvert the policemen’s testimonies.