Harry Pahanyajla: Lukashenka seized tsar’s powers

Human rights activists state that acts of pardon done by the Belarusian ruler, are a legal nonsense in the state not governed by the rule of law.

By his decree of July 9, Alyaksandr Lukashenka pardoned 21 persons sentenced to deprivation of freedom. Besides, he freed from responsibility before the trial 45 persons who compensated to the state for damages caused by economic crimes.

The information about who has been amnestied is not revealed by official sources yet. “Radio Svaboda” reached on the phone Ihar Makarevich, sentenced in mid April to three years of imprisonment for murder of the so-called “Pukhavichy arsonist”. At the moment Makarevich is under house arrest.

He and another convict, Syarhei Alifyarovich, asked the Supreme Court to mitigate the punishment, but the court upheld the verdict of Homel court. But police pickets were removed from the houses of the convicts in the end of June. As we have informed, earlier Alyaksandr Lukashenka spoke in defence of Pukhavichy murderers. Now murderers say they do not know whether they were included in the amnesty of Lukashenka.

“We do not know, we know nothing,” Ihar Makarevich says. “Lawyers wrote, but we do not understand much in this case. As before, we are under house arrest. And now we call every two hours to police, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. sometimes policemen come and check”.

Previously there were cases when as a result of compensating for damages a verdict was mitigated. For instance, a businessman Yury Shatsyor stood trial at the same time with high-ranking customs officers charged with bribes. The businessman was charged with creating a criminal grouping and evading customs payments for about 5 billion Br while delivering 117 trucks of Italian furniture. Yury Shatsyor was released in the court room. Considering that the businessman compensated almost 2 billion Br the damages to the country, the court decided not to imprison him, but to mitigate the punishment.

And now the Belarusian leader amnestied 45 persons before the court. They faced criminal prosecution for economic crimes, but compensated damages.

Commenting on this situation, a human rights activist Harry Pahanyajla notes:

“The leader of the country has assumed powers of a tsar: to punish and to pardon without a trial. In fact, by this decree people are made to pay to the state for the charges brought up against them. No matter are they proved or not. It is certainly a legal nonsense in the state not governed by the rule of law. And on the other hand, such a big number demonstrates that these cases make a majority, and in this connection before the case is taken to the court people address Lukashenka for pardon. This norm has been added to the code of penal procedure. And having received such a request, investigators forward it for soling the issue. If the leader of the country’s’ decision is positive, then the case is stopped and not taken to the court. It is a way to the budget. But the most interesting thing is that it is possible to compensate for damages in full, and Lukashenka won’t not pardon”.