Condemned For Eight Years For Bribe Salihorsk District Ex-Head Released

Aliaksandr Rymasheuski was released after six months.

In December 2017, the Minsk region court sentenced the former head of Salihorsk district, Aliaksandr Rymasheuski, to eight years in prison in a colony with a reinforced regime with confiscation of property, and the other day, he, according to TUT.BY’s source, was released.

"Now everyone in Salihorsk is discussing the news: Rymasheuski was released from the colony, he is at large," – TUT.BY reader informed the editorial office.

In the village of Kamen in Kopyl district, where the former official has a house, this information is confirmed by the locals.

– He came to the village the day before yesterday, and, as they say, he is already going to Brest region to work, – a local resident informs TUT.BY.

In times gone by, Aliaksandr Rymasheuski studied at school in the village of Kamen in Kopyl district. And it was near this village, when the official was detained red-handed on May 30, 2017. On that day, according to the prosecution, he got 2.7 thousand dollars.

The fact that Rymasheuski is free, was confirmed to TUT.BY by another local resident.

Aliaksandr Rymasheuski is not answering the calls.

The prosecutor's office of Salihorsk district, as well as in the Salihorsk district executive committee, refuses to talk on this subject. TUT.BY sent a request to the head of the Department of Execution of Punishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus with a request to comment on why Rymasheuski was released.

The lawyer, Dzmitry Harachka, who defended Aliaksandr Rymasheuski during the trial, said that didn’t know about the release. He specified that the verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court and left unchanged.

How could the former official go at large, if the verdict was upheld, and he could not lay account with the early release on parole yet? According to the TUT.BY source, Aliaksandr Rymasheuski was pardoned by the president.

– We haven’t received any information yet, – Dzmitry Bryliou, an official representative of the Prosecutor General's Office of Belarus, comments.

We remind that in the summer of 2017, the former official was accused of taking bribes, detained and placed in a pretrial detention center. According to the investigators, for a long time, the district executive committee chairman abused power and official authority when deciding on the purchase of plant protection products, seeds and spare parts for agricultural machinery of agro-industrial enterprises and organizations of Salihorsk district.

Already in October 2017, the ex-head of the Salihorsk district was brought to trial. The trial lasted more than a month, and in December 2017, the Minsk region court brought in the verdict of guilty against Rymasheuski. He was found guilty under Part 3 of Art. 430 of the Criminal Code (taking a bribe by a person in a responsible position) and sentenced him to 8 years of imprisonment in a penal colony with confiscation.

The total amount of bribes was 16,900 dollars, the defendant denied his guilt in the final statement.

– I could not commit such a deed, of which I am accused (...), – Aliaksandr Rymasheuski said in the final statement. – That ill-fated confession that I signed ... There was psychological pressure even during the last meeting. The detective said that I was simulating my condition. But do you know any healthy person who can simulate pressure?!

The court also banned Aliaksandr Rymasheuski from holding executive positions for five years and ordered to recover 28,561 rubles from the ex-chairman.