Autukhovich Said Goodbye to Prosecutor General and Went Underground :: Charter'97 :: News

The first session of the court in the case of entrepreneur Mikalay Autukhovich, which was planned for February 9 in the court of Kastrychnitski district of Hrodna, has not taken place because of because of M. Autukhovich’s default of appearance. As his lawyer Halina Ivanova said, the transportation of the entrepreneur, who stayed in Vaukavysk under home arrest, was to be provided by the district internal affairs department. Meanwhile, workers of the firm told to the Deutche Welle, that Autukhovich sent a letter to the Prosecutor General of Belarus and the Prosecutor of Hrodna region. In the letter he denied accusations against him and also informed that he shrugs off obligation to stay under house arrest, as laws are violated in relation to his family.

Deputy Head of Vaukavysk police department Alyaksandr Hlebau refused to comment on the situation to the Deutsche Welle. Autukhovich’s close friend Uladzimir Asipenka is puzzled by the developments, as the day before Mikalay planned to go to Hrodnato attent the court, despite of the grave health condition. As said by Asipenka, in the evening local police told to Autukhovich that a car would arrive to take him to the court. Mikalay wanted to apply for a possibility to read the materials of the case.

Asipenka says that on the day of the court phones of the entrepreneur were blocked. In the morning the policemen asked Asipenka, where Mikalay Autukhovich is.

As the reporters of the Deutche Welle were told by Autukhovich’s employees, today policemen several times arrived to the “Radio-Taxi” car fleet and asked about Autukhovich’s whereabouts.

The workers of the firm told to the Deutche Welle, that Autukhovich sent a letter to the Prosecutor General of Belarus and the Prosecutor of Hrodna region. In the letter he denied accusations against him and also informed that he shrugs off obligation to stay under house arrest, as laws are violated in relation to his family.

In the letter Autukhovich called the tax evasion criminal action a politically motivated case, and also told that he would confirm his innocence himself. He promised to publish relevant information after February 23. It would happen in case the disgraceful criminal case would be stopped. Besides, Mikalay Autukhovich wrote that he is not going to leave Belarus, but he would stop his struggle only after a wrong would be righted.

As we have informed, the criminal case against the entrepreneur is based on failing to pay BYR 679 mln of taxes for two years and a half. Earlier Autukhovich was fined for “violations of cash transactions”. Tax police considered as a violation the practice when taxi drivers gave earnings to him personally, as the owner of cars, and not to the firm “Nika-Trans”, where they were registered.