Political prisoner Haidukou fell ill ahead of trial

Andrei Haidukou, who is charged with “treason”, was transferred to Vitebsk.

Chartert97.org has learnt it from his mother Volha Haidukova.

“The bad news is that he fell ill. His temperature rose above 38ºC. The lawyer was not able to visit him today for reasonable causes. I will learn details after their meeting tomorrow. Andrei has been in Vitebsk since June 3, but I hasn't received letters for a week. I learn news only from the lawyer,” the political prisoner's mother said.

The woman stressed she had been denied visit to Andrei before the trial.

“I was told that I could visit him only after the trial. The judge refused to meet with me. Long ago, when Andrei was in Vitebsk, I was told that I could visit him before the trial, but now the court, not investigators, has power to decide. We'll learn tomorrow evening if the trial will be open to public of closed,” Volha Haidukova said.

KGB chief Valery Vakulchyk recently said court proceedings in the case of Andrei Haidukou, who is charged with treason, would likely to be held behind closed doors.

He said: “I think the people who defended him will feel uncomfortable when the court pronounces its decision.”

“He didn't commit the crime he wanted to commit, because he was caught in time. It's a classical case. Everything was done properly,” the KGB chief said.

Officially, Andrei Haidukou was detained as he was “installing a dead drop with the information interesting for foreign security services”. Many find the accusation absurd.

The civil campaign European Belarus released a statement saying the activist was detained for distributing Charter'97 newspaper. Human rights activists link Haidukou's prosecution to his opposition views and explain it by an attempt to scare young activists.