Mahiliou Regional Court upholds fine for pro-dem activist

The Mahiliou Regional Court presided by Judge Mikalai Hladki considered today a complaint of local leader of the coalition of pro-democratic forces, Yury Novikau, filed to challenge a decision of the court of Leninski district of October 29.

The District Court fined the democratic activist 5,850,000 rubles for distributing leaflets and collecting signatures against the deployment of a Russian airbase in Belarus. The Judge accepted as a proof of the activist’s guilt seven leaflets and petitions seized from Yury Novikau during the arrest, which took place in the evening on September 8 in Mahiliou’s Lenin Street.

The Mahiliou Regional Court ruled to uphold the decision of the court of Leninski district and confirmed the fine imposed on the activist. However, the Judge refused to comment on his decision.

Local human rights defender Barys Bukhel notes that the court's decision is politically motivated.

“The appeal specified why the leaflets and petitions were not media products, but the judge remained indifferent to the law and issued a decision ordered from above,” says Barys Bukhel.

The human rights defender says that the decision of the Mahiliou Regional Court will be appealed to a higher court.