Supreme Court to consider Mikhail Zhabchuzhny's complaint on October 6

The consideration of the appeal will begin at 9.30 a.m. on October 6. This was reported by the founder of the cultural-educational institution "Platform Innovation” in a letter to the human rights activist Leanid Svetsik. On July 10, Mr. Zhamchuzhny was sentenced to six years in a high-security correctional facility. In his letters he emphasizes that the verdict is politcally motivated.

Viciebsk resident Mikhail Zhamchuzhny was found guilty of committing crimes under Art. 376 (parts 1 and 2), paragraph 5 of Art. 16, Art. 375 (part 1) and Art. 431 (parts 1 and 2): illegal purchase of equipment for secret collection of information with the intention of its sale, incitement to the intentional disclosure of information constituting an official secret and trying to
give a brive for receiving information. He was tried behind the closed doors, that's why the circumstances of his criminal prosecution remain unclear for human rights defenders and the civil society. Being kept in prison, Mr. Zhamchuzhny is also unable to shed light on the essence of his case. Neither can his lawyer, who gave an undertaking not to disclose the information related to the investigation.

After the announcement of the verdict Mikhail Zhamchuzhny was returned to the remand prison No. 2 in Viciebsk. All, in all, he has spent a year and met his 60th birthday there. He was detained on August 14, 2014. As Mr. Zhamchuzhny emphasizes in his letter to Leanid Svetsik, it happened a week after his coming to the trial of Andrei Bandarenka, a former director of “Platform Innovation”.
Mikhail Zhamchuzhny writes about his concern with the breaks in correspondenec: he hasn't received answers to some of his letters addressed to human rights activists. He also complains that it is difficult for him to remain in the information vacuum, knowing nothing about the latest events in the Ukraine, the course of the electoral campaign and the actions of Aliaksandr Lukashenka's competitors, as well as about the events related to “Platform Innovation”, as he is concerned about the fate of the organization.

After the announcement of the verdict, Mr. Zhamchuzhny was placed in solitary confinement for almost a month. There he prepared his objections to the prosecutor's protest against the verdict. Let us remind that the prosecutor issued his protest against the verdict, alleging that 6 years in high-security prison was a too mild punishment for the prisoner. The founder of “Platform Innovation” also prepared two cassation appeals, in which he asks to abolish the verdict and stop the criminal proceedings against him, and presents his remarks regarding the court minutes.

He has little hope that the Supreme Court will grant his appeal, though, writing that he hopes to be transferred to a correctional colony in about a month, where he would have an opportunity to use the telephone and watch TV.