MZKT Chief Engineer, Who Spent 50 Months In PDF, Released

The day before, the prosecutor asked for 9 years of imprisonment for Andrei Halavach.

Today, the court of Pershamaiski district of Minsk passed a sentence to Andrei Halavach, who has been behind bars for 50 months. He was found not guilty of receiving bribes and abuse of power. The MZKT chief engineer is a record-breaker in the time spent in the pre-trial detention facility, although in the first case he was acquitted in court three times, tut.by reports.

- Not guilty, - such a sentence against the MZKT chief engineer was delivered by the Pershamaiski district court on Friday, July 19.

On the eve of the trial, prosecutor Yury Sharsniou said that Halavach's guilt was proved in full, he asked the court to find the defendant guilty and to sentence him to 9 years of imprisonment in the colony under a reinforced regime with confiscation of property. The defenders of the MZKT chief engineer were saying otherwise. None of the four bribe-givers came to the trial, their testimony during the preliminary investigation was inconsistent and contradictory, there was no video or audio recordings confirming that Halavach had taken bribes. Therefore, their defendant should be discharged on every count.

Having listened to all the parties, the judges retired into chambers for two days. Today, Judge Sviatlana Charapovich announced the verdict. Andrei Halavach was found not guilty under Part 2, 3 of Art. 430 of the Criminal Code (Bribery on a large scale), Part 2. Article 424(2) (Abuse of power or official authority), and the court ruled to acquit him.

- In my opinion, this case consists of doubts only. (...) I believe that the high court will make a fair decision and the whole nightmare will end, - Andrei Halavach said in his last word.

During the trial, the defendant said that he had been behind bars for 50 months, and that he "...wanted to go home ". Now the MZKT chief engineer has the right to apply to the court for compensation for moral damages in connection with the detention.

- I believed from the first day that this would happen! - Halavach said on the steps of the court.

A new charge was brought on February 5, 2018 - directly at the trial, where he was acquitted.

- The case, which we are considering today, was opened on February 5, 2018 - 15 minutes after the acquittal. I was detained by the same investigator who was in charge of the case, in which I was acquitted. This calls into question the objectivity of the investigation, - Andrei Halavach said during the trial on July 16.

We remind that he was detained in the court building immediately after the verdict of acquittal. This time, according to the investigation, he received $192,200 as a bribe, €35,000 and "intended to get another $240,000," but did not have time because he was detained.

- Unfortunately, the prosecution did not doubt anything, - lawyer Aliaksei Shvakau said. - And what about the fact that there is no video and audio recording, which proves the guilt by 100%. Why aren't there any key witnesses referred to by the prosecution? Is their testimony at the investigation stage sufficient? Where is the damage caused by Halavach's actions? How can one abuse one's official position and not cause any damage? On the contrary, we see that the plant was prospering under Halavach. There are a lot of questions here. Why aren't the bribe payers brought to criminal responsibility? (...) An attention-getting fact: none of the bribe givers came to court. And whose problem is this? Certainly not ours, but the one of the prosecution's side.