Hrodna court finds violations in judge's actions in Belarus Press Photo case

The court, however, refused to open disciplinary proceedings against judge Aliaksandr Davydau.

In April, the judge of the Ashmiany district court forbade members of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and Belarusian Helsinki Committee to attend the trial in the case of Belarus Press Photo 2011 albums (which were found extremist at the trial).

Members of the BAJ and the Belarusian Helsinki Committee were going to defend the organisers of the photo contest and express the position of the organisations in compliance with the Belarusian legislation, the BAJ press service reports.

The BAJ applied to the Hrodna regional court asking to declare the verdict of the court illegal and impose disciplinary sanctions on judge Aliaksandr Davydau.

In the reply to the BAJ dated June 28, the Hrodna regional court admitted that judge Aliaksandr Davydau had committed violations and said that a letter was sent to the chair of the Ashmiany court ordering to avoid similar violations.

Chair of the Hrodna regional court Aliaksandr Hrynkevich decided not to impose disciplinary sanctions on Aliaksandr Davydau “taking into account the responsible attitude towards his work he has been demonstrating before”.

Photo: budzma.org