29 March 2024, Friday, 12:59
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“I Think They Had Been Preparing For It”

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“I Think They Had Been Preparing For It”
ZMITSER KANECHUK

The riot police were waiting for REP Trade Union activists in court.

REP Trade Union member Zmitser Kanechuk came to court with a claim against the employer. But in court, the events went off course, praca-by.info writes.

Zmitser Kanechuk, who had injured his leg at the sawmill, filed a lawsuit against his Forest Daha employer: the administration forced him to work with the sore leg or quit.

Trade union activists from Babruisk, in particular, Halina Smirnova, leader of the Babruisk branch of the REP Trade Union, and lawyer Aleh Zhalnou came with Zmitser Kanechuk to court.

The meeting takes place in the Hlusk court, Judge Dalhikh: it has been transferred from Babruisk, as the defendant’s wife is a former judge of the said court.

As Halina Smirnova reported from the courtroom, everything immediately went wrong. It started with the fact that the defendant filed a motion asking the judge to move free listeners away from the plaintiff, although no law restricts in civil proceedings the plaintiff’s communication with representatives of either party.

Further, prosecutor Andrei Larkin considered that Aleh Zhalnou had insulted him and filed a statement for bringing Zhalnou to justice. Immediately after that statement, without even waiting for the end of Zmitser Kanechuk’s civil trial, an investigator with a police detachment arrived at the court and started to interrogate witnesses right in the corridor:

– And all the witnesses were those invited by the defendant: Zmitser Kanechuk’s employer from the OJSC Forest Daha. They gave false testimony: allegedly, Aleh got out of the courtroom and insulted the prosecutor. That was not true, nobody left the courtroom during the break, and how much more so, nobody insulted anyone, – Halina Smirnova explained.

The trade union activist is convinced that they had been preparing for their appearance in court:

– I can guess what the outcome of the trial will be. The riot police are waiting outside. Aleh Zhalnou has demanded a summons; I think now the summons will be here.

Hennadz Fiadynich, the REP Trade Union leader, called the events in court outrageous:

– Where have we seen the riot police to come following the statement of insult? Try it yourself to come and write such a statement to the police: does a detachment respond to your statement immediately? It shows: not an ordinary person has been insulted.

In the meantime, the Hlusk court is still considering Zmitser Kanechuk’s civil suit.

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