Lyabedzka’s blame was withheld from him in court
10- 10.06.2009, 9:09
The leader of the United Civil party Anatol Lyabedzka has been found guilty on the basis of “evidence” with which he hadn’t been familiarized himself: the evidence wasn’t read out in the court, as it is “secret” in nature.
The court of Tsentralny district of Minsk has upheld the warning of the Prosecutor’s General office issued to the leader of the UCP for the newspaper “Glotok vozdukha” (“Breath of fresh air”), the website ucpb.org informs.
According to information of the Prosecutor’s General office, the politician was involved in preparation of articles and publishing this newspaper. It is stated that the edition number 1 (11), 2008, contains false information, discrediting the Republic of Belarus, and libeling materials (statements and photos) against highest officials of the state. The deputy chairman of the Prosecutor General Alyaksei Stuk warned Anatol Lyabedzka about inadmissability of violation of the Law on Press and accountability for such actions in the future.
“There is a warning, but there are no proofs that I was involved in production of the newspaper. The evidence wasn’t presented in the court,” Lyabedzka said. “The chairman of the General Prosecutor’s office Eliseeu referred to the fact that the evidence is secret. And allegedly under the law the Prosecutor’s office is against of their disclosure in the court”.
At the sitting of the court the representative of the Prosecutor’s office stated that Anatol Lyabedzka was involved in production of the newspaper. The statement that he prepared articles is not applied to the politician, as said by Mr Eliseeu.
“He said that allegedly I am the publisher of the newspaper. And Judge Svyatlana Hanchar basing upon the evidence which is secret in nature and which hadn’t been presented to me, upheld the warning,” Anatol Lyabedzka said.
The politician believes that the Prosecutor’s office uses the practice of issuing warnings “as suppression of political and public activism of citizens”. Thus, as said by the leader of the UCP, the Prosecutor’s office responded to his address to investigate facts of possible sale of armaments to Latin America by Belarus basing upon reports of Interpol, promulgated by Euronews channel and the Spanish newspaper “El Pais”.
“The response of the General Prosecutor’s office was not to initiate a case, but issuing an official warning to me. Keep your hands off this sphere, do not pose unpleasant questions to us, otherwise we would act in this way,” Anatol Lyabedzka said.
