Kryčaŭ District Court drops administrative case against Uladzimir Kudrautsau

June 4, the consideration of the administrative case against the publisher of the newspaper "Voĺny Horad" Uladzimir Kudrautsau, who was charged with libeling the employee of the main bureau for combating organized crime of the Kryčaŭ District Police Department Aliaksandr Dziameshka, finished at the Kryčaŭ District Court.

During the trial, floor was taken by Uladzimir Kudrautsau and Aliaksandr Dziameshka. Uladzimir Kudrautsau again asked the court to close the case due to the absence of corpus delicti in his actions, referring to numerous violations committed by employees of the Kryčaŭ DPD while drawing up the repeated report of administrative violation against him.

Then Judge Katsiaryna Shmatkova spent an hour familiarizing the present people with the materials of the administrative case, which consisted of three volumes. In her speech she positively assessed the fact that HRC “Viasna” reacted very quickly to her request and immediately sent an answer to it.

After a short break, the judge decided to close the administrative case against Uladzimir Kudrautsau due to the expiration of the term of bringing him to administrative responsibility (Art. 7.6 Part 1 of the Administrative Code), which expired on June 4, 2015.

Human rights defender Barys Bukhel expressed the opinion that closing the criminal case due to the expiration of the term for bringing the defendant to administrative liability is the best way out for the Kryčaŭ police, as their report of administrative violation, drawn up against Uladzimir Kudrautsau, contains numerous irregularities, and they had virtually no chances to get him punished. At the trial, they gave confused testimonies and often changed them.

The editor of the newspaper "Voĺny Horad" Siarhei Niarouny noted that now journalists of "Voĺny Horad" will consult and consider whether to appeal to the Kryčaŭ District Court with the aim to achieve changes in the wording of the reasons for which the criminal case was closed, in order to achieve a complete rehabilitation of Uladzimir Kudrautsau. Moreover, according to Siarhei Niarouny, journalists of "Voĺny Horad" were indignated by the fact that at the trial "offended" A. Dziameshka argued that Kudrautsau hadn't brought him additional appeals regarding unlawful actions of the head of the ideological department of the Kryčaŭ District Executive Committee M. Maksimava, which doesn't correspond to reality.

Let us remind that in the new report of administrative violation, drawn up on May 25, lieutenant-colonel Vusik wrote that Kudrautsau, being at home, "produced misleading defamatory information about the employee of the bureau for combating economic crime A. Dziameshka by providing the website spring96.org with the information that A. Dziameshka had threatened to instigate a criminal case against him for alleged defamation of the head of the department of ideology, culture and youth affairs of the Kryčaŭ District Executive Committee M. Maksimava, after which this information was was published on at the website on April 5, 2015."

Uladzimir Kudrautsau has always stated that he hadn't disseminated any defamatory information about Aliaksandr Dziameshka. The reason for drawing both reports of administrative violation was the article about his attempts to bring to criminal liability the head of the department of ideology, culture and youth affairs of the Kryčaŭ District Executive Committee Maryna Maksimava, where police officer A. Dziameshka, who held an inspection on Uladzimir Kudrautsau statement, was also mentioned.

Uladzimir Kudrautsau filed his appeal to the Kryčaŭ District Prosecutor's Office with the demand to take measures of prosecutorial reaction with the aim of unbiased and objective inspection by the main bureau for combating economic crime and the request to protect him from hints and threats
on the part of the employee of the bureau for combating organized crime A. Dziameshka, back on December 16, 2014.