Aleh Hruzdzilovich presents books "Who blasted Minsk metro?"

At the presentation Belarusian civil society activists discussed the media coverage of high-profile criminal trials, the dangers for the journalists, and the methods by which the state is trying to change public opinion.

Aleh Hruzdzilovich learned about the explosion in the subway when he was on duty at the website of "Radio Liberty". These memories open the book, which details about the the progress of the trial. The reporter visited almost all sittings of the court and studied the texture of the case well enough. He also applied to experts, the relatvies of the victims and the accused.

For his work Aleh Hruzdzilovich got a warning from the prosecutor's office, which decided that by this book the author put into question the validity of the Belarusian judiciary.

The conclusion of the prosecutor's office seems odd at least due to the fact that Mr. Hruzdzilovich thinks that terrorist act was committed by Kanavalau and Kavaliou knew about it but didn't inform the police. Thus, in many moments the author shares the official position of the investigative bodies. At the same time, the journalist stated that he was an adversary of the death penalty. According to him, the accused were to have received a milder punishment.

The journalist was congratulated on the release of the book by his colleagues from "Radio Liberty", "Radio Racyja", "Solidarity", the head of the Belarusian Association of Journalists Zhana Litvina, former presidential candidate Uladzimir Niakliayeu and human rights activists Aleh Volchak and Andrei Bandarenka, who indicated that they did not agree with some of the conclusions drawn by the author.

"It's important for people to express their opinion, and there was a diague on this topic," said Mr. Hruzdzilovich. "Many readers wrote at the website that they didn't share my opinion concernign the perpetrators of the explosion. However, the fact that a public discussion takes place is an important result of my work."

"Who blew up the Minsk subway?" is the 40th book in the series "Library of Liberty". You can order it (in the Belarusian language) by writing to rferl.minsk@gmail.com.