Human rights defenders recognize Alinevich, Dziadok and Frankevich political prisoners
Human Rights
Center "Viasna" and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee recognized Ihar
Alinevich, Mikalai Dziadok and Aliaksandr Frantskevich as political prisoners
of the present regime. The human rights defenders came to this conclusion on
the basis of analysis of the so-called “Case of Anarchists”.
According
to the conclusion of the BHC, this decision is based on the following findings:
1. Preliminary investigation of the criminal case was
accompanied by serious procedural irregularities, including violations of the
rights of convicts. They
include: arbitrary detention, violation of the terms and procedures of
detention established by the Criminal Procedure Code of Belarus, the violation
of the right to protection, a violation of the presumption of innocence, and
others. I.
Alinevich was detained in Moscow, and his
transportation to the KGB jail in Minsk was
carried out with gross violations of established procedures, including
procedures for the extradition of citizens from the territory of the Russian Federation to Belarus. During the trial, convicted
I. Alinevich, M. Dziadok and A.Frantskevich
Olinevicha I.,
M. Dedok, A. Frantskevich repeatedly stated about illegal actions against them
during the investigation, including psychological pressurization and tortures.
During the trial, said that against them during preliminary investigation used
illegal actions: the psychological pressure and torture. On
the application of torture to have a trial and a number of witnesses who
retracted their statements made by them during the preliminary investigation
(K. forging, A. Zhingerovsky, I. Bogachek, Bugaev, S. Slusar). These
circumstances during the preliminary investigation and court proceedings with
adequate completeness have not been verified and they were not given a legal
assessment. The use of tortures was also confirmed by a number of witnesses who
refused from the testimonies given during the preliminary investigation (I. Bahachak,
A. Buhayou, K. Kouka, S. Sliusar and A. Zhynherouski). These circumstances
weren’t subject to a due check-up and evaluation during the investigation and
the court proceedings
2. During
the trial, the principle of equality of the parties to submit evidence was
violated. Gross
violations of prisoners' rights give reason to believe that the trial was not
an objective, comprehensive and inclusive, and the verdict was unjustified and
illegal. Imposed
under these circumstances the sentence should be reversed and the case – intended
for a new trial.
3. Detention of I. Alinevich, M. Dziadok and A. Frantskevich
and their punishment with such long, clearly inadequate prison terms, is obvious
way related to the political motives of the authorities.
4. According to these findings, the national public
association "Belarusian Helsinki Committee" and experts of the
Belarusian human rights community consider Ihar Alinevich, Mikalai Dziadok and
Aliaksandr Frantskevich political prisoners of the current regime in Belarus.
