29 March 2024, Friday, 4:49
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

General Prosecutor’s Office lied again. Lawyers had no access to clients for 27 days

42
General Prosecutor’s Office lied again. Lawyers had no access to clients for 27 days

Lawyers and relatives of the KGB prisoners disprove the statement of the General Prosecutor’s Office of Belarus.

Today the General Prosecutor’s office of Belarus has made a statement that examination of incarceration conditions of the accused in the so-called “mass riot case” has established that: “custodial pattern meets requirements of regulatory documents, their health status is satisfactory.”

The General Prosecutor’s office has also stated that prisoners had been guaranteed access of lawyers and relatives in accordance with the established procedure; receiving parcels, cash remittances and letters has been organized.

Meanwhile, many lawyers have not seen their clients since late December. Nothing is known about Andrei Sannikov, Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, Mikalai Statkevich, Zmitser Bandarenka, Iryna Khalip, Alyaksandr Atroshchankau and other political prisoners.

Tamara Sidarenka, a lawyer of the presidential candidate Uladzimir Nyaklyaeu, today visited the KGB prison again. Once again she tried to meet with Nyaklyaeu. “In the morning I was the third in the queue, and the first after the lunch break. However, other lawyers who are not related to the mass riot case in Minsk on December 19 last year, entered before me. As far as I know, other lawyers had analogous situation,” Sidarenka said to BelaPAN.

The lawyer stressed that she addressed the administration of the pre-trial detention centre and preliminary investigation agencies, and unsuccessfully asked a meeting with her client many times. “I have not seen Nyaklyaeu since December 29 last year,” Sidarenka said.

Tatsyana Stankevich, a lawyer of the presidential candidate Mikalai Statkevich, once again tried to meet with her client on January 24. “I have spent half of the day in the KGB, and finally have not visited Statkevich,” she said. “Though the Prosecutor’s office states that lawyers have free entrance to their clients, it is not my case,” Stankevich said. Last time she saw the imprisoned politician on December 29.

Relatives of the accused refute statements of the Prosecutor General’s office.

As said by Uladzimir Khalip, the father of the journalist, the wife of the presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov, Iryna Khalip, last time the lawyer saw his daughter last year. “We have no news from our side, no news from Iryna or from the lawyer. We keep contact with the lawyer all the time, and last time he saw Iryna on December 29,” Uladzimir Khalip said.

Volha Bandarenka, the wife of Zmitser Bandarenka, an agent of Sannikov, underlined: any meetings with her husband are “out of the question.” “I cannot even take his dirty underwear to wash it. Every time I come to bring a parcel, I register to take his things to the wash. Even his dirty wear is not given to me, not to mention any meetings,” Volha stressed. As said by her, last time her husband was visited by the lawyer on December 29 as well.

According to the Criminal Procedure Code, a lawyer has a right for unimpeded communication with a client, without limitation of number and length of their conversations.

Absence of access to lawyers, absence of communication with families, and to our knowledge, absence of access to medical assistance – are the circumstances which have caused such indignation of the world community,” stated U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Melia during his visit to Minsk on January 24.

Write your comment 42

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts