Trial in Andrei Haidukou’s case scheduled for June 12

According to Andrei Haidukou’s relatives, the case will be heard at 10 a.m. on June 12 in Vitsebsk Regional Court with presiding Judge Halina Urbanovich.

Valery Vakulchyk, Chairman of the State Security Committee (KGB), said yesterday that the meeting would be held behind closed doors. However, no official decision of the court on this issue has been yet announced.

The Human Rights Center “Viasna” and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee issued a joint statement in which they urged the authorities to provide for an open trial. Simultaneously, the activist mother insists that the trial was open.

Andrei Haidukou has been in detention for seven months. According to the KGB, the man was arrested while allegedly “making a dead drop with information that may be of interest to foreign intelligence services.” Under Article 356 of the Criminal Code (high treason through intelligence activities), he faces 7 to 15 years in prison.

His relatives and friends do not believe that Andrei is a “traitor” or a “spy”. They believe that the true reason for his arrest are his opposing views, as well as work in the teams of pro-democratic candidates in the elections, or the entire case is a “grandiose provocation.” This is what Andrei Haidukou wrote about in his first letters from the KGB Minsk prison.