Criminal case of Andrzej Poczobut taken to Hrodna court

The criminal case against a journalist of “Gazeta Wyborcza” Andrzej Poczobut has been taken to the court of Leninski district of Hrodna, according to the place of the defendant’s residence.

As said by lawyer Alyaksandr Birilau, the date of the hearings is not known yet. As before, Poczobut is kept in the remand prison of Hrodna, BelaPAN informs. “The day of the hearings is usually set two weeks earlier. The chairman of the court appoints a judge, he or she studies the case, the day of the hearing is assigned, and witnesses are subpoenaed for a certain day and certain time,” Birilau explained.

We remind that the journalist of “Gazeta Wyborcza” Andrzej Poczobut is charged under two article of the Criminal Code: 368 (part 1) – insulting and 367 (part 1) defamation of the president of Belarus.

The first article carries a punishment of up to 4 years in prison, the second one – from 2 to 4 years in prison. The criminal case is based on journalist’s publications in Gazeta Wyborcza, at “Belorusskiy partisan” website and in his livejournal blog.

On April 6 the journalist was detained for 3 days for violation of his written undertaking not to leave the place. Poczobut was on his way to Minsk to take part in a video conference with deputies of the European parliament, in order to tell about crackdown by the Belarusian authorities. After that the measure of restraint was changed for detention in custody.

Earlier in an interview to BelaPAN Poczobut stated: “I believe that I had not insulted Alyaksandr Lukashenka in any way. It’s true, there is criticism against Lukashenka in these articles. But my articles do not contain insults, only criticism. It could be harsh criticism, but I had not allowed myself to make insults.”

It should be noted that in 2002 the editor-in-chief of “Pahonya” newspaper Mikalai Markevich and a journalist Pavel Mazhejka were convicted in the court of Leninski district of Hrodna. They were charged with defamation of the president. Markevich was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months of restraint of liberty, Mazhejka – to 2 years of restraint of liberty. In 2004 in the same court the leaders of the entrepreneurs’ movement Valery Levaneuski and Alyaksandr Vasilyeu were sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment. They were charged with public insult of the president.