Observers continue monitoring administrative trials
A group of human rights defenders monitored yesterday ten administrative trials as part of a campaign of judicial observation launched last month.
The monitoring was carried out in the Court of Minsk Kastrychnitski district and revealed a number of violations. In particular, when hearing charges brought against a Chinese national, Judge Maksim Lapko refused third persons to attend the trial, thus violating Art. 411 of the Belarusian Constitution, which guarantees “public hearing of cases in all types of courts.”
When considering nine administrative cases, Judge Katsiaryna Chaiko failed to name herself, while the trials lasted for an average 90 seconds. Besides, information about the trials was not posted on the courts’ notice boards.
Rights of the defendants were not announced in any of the trials. Witnesses for the prosecution were absent in all the trials.
