Court turns down the appeal of Uladzimir Niapomniashchykh

On 12 April Iryna Kavalevich, Judge of the Tsentralny District Court of Homel rejected the appeal of a police pensioner and demoratic activist Uladzimir Niapomniashchykh, who demanded that 9 mln rubles be exacted from the police for 3 days of unlawful detention.

Mr. Niapomniashchykh had been detained on 7 October 2011, on the eve of the People's Assembly in Mahiliou, and was held in detention for three days without receiving any charges. On 10 October he was taken to court, which found him guilty under Article 23.34 of the Code of Administrative Offences (violation of the rules of holding mass events) and sentenced him to a fine. Some time after the trial Uladzimir Niapomniashchykh found that the police had also drawn another report against him, for alleged use of obscene language in public (Article 17.1 of the CAO, "disorderly conduct"). The activist considered it as an attempt to justify his unlawful detention before the trial. On 11 January 2012 the Tsentralny District Court of Mahiliou dropped the case because of the impossibility to prove the guilt of the defendant.