Nasta Lojka: Spy Hajdukou will take place of released political prisoner

It is difficult to count on a verdict of non-guilty for an activist in today’s Belarus.

The case of a ‘spy’ from Viciebsk Andrej Hajdukou has been sent to court. Human rights defenders will straggle for the process to be open. Then the details of the classified case would become available, Belsat reports.

Today’s ‘Hot Commentary’ with a human rights activist Nasta Lojka is on Hajdukou’s case. The TV program’s guest noted that the state treason article was previously used towards military men or other people, actually having access to state secrets. According to the recent changes to the Criminal Code, information has been equated to state secrets that may be useful for foreign countries, their representatives or organizations.

Why such a strange accusation was put forward against Hajdukou and not someone else? “If we consider the information that we possess, this looks a bit strange to us, since a large number of activists can be taken into custody this way”, - Nasta Lojka says. May be, Andrej Hajdukou communicated with foreigners more than others.

According to the human rights activist, there is hope that the prosecutor will change his demands for softer ones in the course of the trial: “Probably, they did not want to do it during the investigation, since they would have had to justify their taking him in custody for so long”. According to Nasta Lojka, it is difficult to count on a verdict of non-guilty in today’s Belarus. Andrej Hajdukou may take the place of a political prisoner, who will be released: the authorities need hostages in order to bargain with the West.