Case of Lapitski to Be Reviewed

We remind that in 2011, pensioner Aliaksandr Lapitski started to follow the investigation of the bomb blast in Minsk subway. He published his views about the tragedy in details in his blog, blaming top public officials for the blast. The police has repeatedly denied criminal prosecution of the pensioner, however, this year the case has finally reached the courtroom.

The human rights center Viasna made a statement, demanding to dismiss the case against Aliaksandr Lapitski and review the legislation related to defamation concerning public officials.

“At the panel on criminal case, both the prosecutor and the defense for Lapitski spoke,” says human rights defender Aleh Volchak. “The prosecutor underlined that the decision had been made with violations of criminal procedures, so he requested to additionally review the case. The defense told about violations made and asked to close the case at all, because the mistakes of the preliminary investigation cannot be reversed.”

Nevertheless, the case was not closed, but sent for review.

“Although this is not what we’d counted for, but this is still a result of public work, because now the pensioner could have been sent for psychiatric treatment,” added Aleh Volchak. “I think that it was not the least factor that human rights activists defended Aliaksandr Lapitski, who, with the worst scenario, could have been recognized as a political prisoner. It is clear that Belarus authorities now don’t need political prisoners.”

The case will be re-investigated and sent repeatedly to the Frunzenski district court, the date of the hearing will be announced quite soon.