Process of Fourteen to resume on May 23

On May 23 the trial in the case of participants of the protest rally of market vendors is to continue in the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk.

As the Charter’97 press-center has found out, decrees of the court about appointing the court session for May 23, 9.30 a.m. were handed to Pavel Vinogradau, Mikhail Subach and Maxim Dashuk in the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk.

Another participant of the trial, Alyaksxandr Barazenka, is abroad. Judge V. Yesman is to consider the case.

“The case is to be judged by another person. The lawyer says that different judges give different sentences in analogous cases. That is why it is a mystery what the verdict will be. We shall do our best to protect our rights. I am an individual entrepreneur. I shall demonstrate all facts that individual entrepreneurs addressed the Constitutional court and asked Lukashenka’s decrees to be explained to them, that successive steps had been done, but we hadn’t been heard. So we were forced to take to the streets,” Mikhail Subach, the participant of the process said to the Charter’97 press-center.

14 opposition activists are tried for participation in the protest rally of small businessmen. 10 pf them have been convicted. Young activist Andrei Kim has been sentenced to 1.5 years of imprisonment in a colony by the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk. Other participants of the Process of Fourteen, Mikhail Pashkevich, Alyaksei Bondar, Artsyom Dubsky, Mikhail Kryvau, Ales Straltsou, Ales Charnyshou and Tatsyana Tsishkevich have been sentenced to corrective labour at their employment place. They are to give the state 20% of their salary. Anton Kopijsh and Uladzimer Syarheyeu were fined 100 basic units. The verdicts were delivered by judge Alena Illina.

As we have informed, about 5,000 market vendors took part in the protest rally on January 10. The activists stood trial for participation in that rally. Businessmen protested against discriminatory decrees of Alyaksandr Lukashenka and blocked the Independence Avenue.