“Moskovsky Komsomolets”: Trial against “terrorists” is clearly accusatorial

The most high-profile trial in modern Belarus is coming to an end.

The country’s deputy prosecutor general, Alyaksei Stuk, demanded death penalty for Dzmitry Kanavalau and Uladzislau Kavalyou. Two young men from Vitsebsk are accused of organizing and perpetrating a terrorist attack in the Minsk metro this year and blasts in Minsk in 2008 and in Vitsebsk in 2005, “Moskovsky Komsomolets” newspaper runs.

Kanavalau is charged with committing terrorist attacks and producing explosives. Kavaloyou is charged with aiding and failure to inform authorities. According to Stuk, prosecution made this decision “taking into account the opinion of representatives of the killed people and in view of committing grave crimes and killings by the defendants.” “We demand death penalty without confiscation of property for Kanavalau and Kavalyou,” Stuk said.

We remind that a blast at the Kastrychnitskaya metro station happened on April 11. 15 persons were killed and over 400 were injured. The case of the explosion in Minsk metro raised many questions from the beginning. Investigators say that a lathe operator and a fitter from Vitsebsk made a unique bomb. Kanavalau did not hide from CCTV cameras in the metro, gave call to his girl-friend and exploded the bomb. Then he was marking this with his friends until police came to him. The alleged motives of the rascals were “hypertrophic self-esteem, self-importance expressing in rejection, hatred towards achievements of ordinary people”.

Trial against Kanavalau and Kavalyou began in middle September. Most attention was given not to the acts they had committed, but to their moral portraits. However, former teacher of Kanavalau described him as “demonstratively elegant”. The owner of the flat rented by Kavalyou said she could describe him only positively.

As “MK” has learnt from Syarhei, a friend of Kavalyou and Kanavalau, the trial was clearly accusatorial. “They shut up both lawyers and injured people,” he said. Samvel Saakyan, an injured person, left the courtroom as a sign of protest. He demanded to summon to court officers of Almaz special detachment, who had detained Kanavalau and Kavalyou, but judge Alyaksandr Fedartsou refused. Kavalyou’s lawyer Abrazei asked to summon Kanstantsin Zaitsau, a pyrotechnician from the Almaz detachment, whose fingerprints were found on a self-made explosive device in 2008. The court said Zaitsau was on a business trip and found this a valid excuse.

Bomb technician Mikalai Kazarez said the drawings in Kanavalau’s notebook could scarcely be called drawings of bombs. A criminal law expert, Stsyapan Klimovich, agreed with this opinion.

Dzmitry Kanavalau’s lawyer had not been allowed to see his client in the KGB jail since April. The defendants denied the evidence they had given during preliminary investigation and said about pressure from KGB investigators.

The Belarusian authorities did not pay attention to these details. Alyaksandr Lukashenka awarded the investigative team for “solving the terrorist attack case”, though court proceedings were still in progress. The head of state gave the Supreme Court to understand what verdicts he wants.

Belarusian journalists report that Kavalyou remained quiet and did not react to prosecutor’s decision. Kavalyou did not expect such a severe sentence. He turned back from the people in the courtroom, but when he turned again, he had tears in his eyes.