Brest: trial of Vital Koush resumed
The break in the court proceedings was
connected with the fact that the accusation had made mistakes in the
surnames of the Indian citizens, who had been detained on the border
and whom Mr. Kousha allegedly assisted.
Vital Koush is being
tried for "facilitation to illegal migration": according to
the investigation, he tried to help eight Indians in crossing the
Belarusian-Polish border on a rope. A break in the hearings was
announced due to mistakes in the documents, and the prosecutor had to
change the formulation of the charges.
At the same time,
Brest District Court refused to view the video addresses of the
Indian citizen made by them after deportation from Belarus. In these
videos the citizens stated they had been forced to give false
testimonies against the people they hadn't known.
Vital Koush,
a father of two children, has been kept in the remand prison since
September 2012 despite the repeated solicitations for a change of the
restraint. Before the imprisonment, Mr. Koush used to take an active
part in various civil and political campaigns, including as an
observer at the presidential elections of 2010.