Ales Bialiatski: There is a new political prisoner in Belarus

Yuriiy Rubtsov was sentenced to one and half years of for "insulting the judge" which has never been proven.

According to yesterday's court decision, Homel activist, Yuriiy Rubtsov was sentenced to one and half years of imprisonment in the open correlation facility. Human rights activist and former political prisoner, Ales Bialiatski believes that the process is a new example of reprisal over an opponent of the Lukashenko regime.

- It is clear that the court hearing which began with an administrative process against Yuriiy Rubtsov, resulted into political prosecution and criminal case. For understanding the situation, it is easy just to remember that he was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with a statement "Lukashenko, go away!" which the police did not like. After that he was taken to the court half naked, because he was stripped of the T-shirt, which means that the police used force against him. This is also a violation of his rights, because this message does not contain any public order offenses, but only contains the personal opinions of Yuriiy Rubtsov. There were no grounds either for his detention or for the court hearing.

- Was the prosecution able to confirm the insult of the judge, which was the reason for him to be prosecuted?

- The trial was held behind closed doors, and all participants who were present in the court were members of one side, namely they were police officers who testified against him during the administrative hearing in court, and in fact, there is no evidence of the “insult of a judge”, and it is evident that police officers were giving false testimonies during the trial.

Thus, the administrative court hearing in April, which had political undertone, grew into a criminal case which clearly has political character. This persecution of Belarusian citizens for expressing his civil position which is granted to him by the Constitution, hence, it seems to me that here we are dealing with the process of reprisal with political opponent of the Belarusian regime. We have gotten another political prisoner.

- Nevertheless, there is still an appeal of the sentence.

- Until the verdict is not yet in force, there will be an appeal, but the decision is confirmed, then we will see how the Belarusian authorities are handling the undesirable citizens.

To remind, yesterday the Homel activist was convicted under Article 391 of the Criminal Code for "insulting the judge." He was sentenced to imprisonment for two years and six months with the condition of being detained in the open correlation facility. The term of detention was reduced for one year under the amnesty. The judge for the court hearing which took place in the Court of the Minsk Central district was Natalia Vojtsekhovich. Yuriiy Rubtsov was put under a house arrest.