Homel Regional Court overturns conviction of Fair World member

Homel Regional Court overturned on 15 February the decision of Zhlobin District Court to hand down three years of suspended imprisonment to a member of the Fair World party Yauhen Basareuski.

“The Regional Court overturned an earlier decision and sent the case file for new trial to the lower court, Zhlobin District Court,” says Valery Rybchanka, head of Fair World’s Zhlobin district office. “The judges ruled that the previous trial failed to examine the results of an independent examination to confirm the innocence of Yauhen Basareuski and his former associate Ms. Valiantsina Kastsiukevich.

Mr. Rybchanko notes that at the trial the regional prosecutor repeated word for word the things said by the state prosecutor from Zhlobin, asking the court to uphold the decision, but the Regional Court took the side of the defense.

On December 7, 2012 Zhlobin District Court sentenced Yauhen Basareuski, a 66-year-old activist of the party “Fair World”, to three years of imprisonment suspended for two years, and his former colleague Valiantsina Kastsiukevich – to four years of conditional imprisonment with partial expiry of the term of 1 year. Yauhen Basareuski and Valiantsina Kastsiukevich were convicted under Par. 3 of Article 424 of the Criminal Code (“abuse of power or of a position of authority”). Both did not admit their guilt.