English

Khalip, Sevyarynets plead not guilty, Martselaw admits guilt in full

Iryna Khalip and Pavel Sevyarynets pleaded not guilty, while Syarhey Martselaw admitted his guilt in full in their trial that began in the Zavodski District Court in Minsk on Wednesday.

The trio stand accused in connection with a post-election demonstration that took place in central Minsk on December 19, 2010.

Mr. Marselaw, who was the campaign manager for candidate Mikalay Statkevich in the presidential election, said that the protest had been intended to be peaceful. “I did not expect a scenario other than a peaceful one,” he said. “I couldn’t foresee the mass disorder that investigators claim took place.”

Mr. Martselaw acknowledged that he had called on the voters to join the unsanctioned protest.

He also acknowledged that he together with other protesters had stopped traffic along the city’s main thoroughfare, Independence Avenue, while marching from Kastrychnitskaya Square to the House of Government in Independence Square.

Speaking in court earlier in the day, Pavel Sevyarynets, who was Vital Rymashewski’s campaign manager, asked that the judge, Zhanna Brysina, be excused. He said that he had no trust in the Belarusian judiciary.

Ms. Brysina dismissed the request, saying that the stated reason was not among authorized reasons for the disqualification of a judge.

She also dismissed Ms. Khalip’s motion to release her from house arrest, but she granted her request to include certificates of her awards in the case file.

The judge also granted Mr. Sevyarynets` request to call up several people as witnesses to the court.

Mr. Sevyarynets, Mr. Martselaw and Ms. Khalip, a prominent journalist who is ex-candidate Andrey Sannikaw’s wife, are accused of the "organization and preparation of actions that are in gross violation of the public order or active participation in them" under Part One of the Criminal Code`s Article 342, which provides for a maximum penalty of three years in prison. They were initially charged with organizing "mass disorder," an offense that carries up to 15 years in prison.

Messrs. Martsalew and Sevyarynets have been held in the KGB detention center since their arrest in the wake of the December 19 protest and Ms. Khalip was released from the jail and placed under house arrest on January 29. //BelaPAN