English

Minsk City Court upholds prison sentences in so-called anarchists’ case

 

The Minsk City Court on July 8 dismissed appeals against prison sentences imposed in May in a so-called anarchists’ case, said BelaPAN.

In particular, the Court upheld the eight-year sentence against Ihar Alinevich, the 4 1/2-year sentence against Mikalay Dzyadok, and the three-year sentence against Alyaksandr Frantskevich.

The two other defendants in the case, Maksim Vetkin and Yawhen Selivonchyk, who were sentenced to a four-year "restricted freedom" term and an eighteen-month restricted freedom term, respectively, did not appeal their sentences.

As civil society activist Alyaksandr Yarashevich told BelaPAN, during the trial in the Zavodski District Court in Minsk, Messrs. Vetkin and Selivonchyk admitted their guilt and gave evidence against other co-defendants.

The parents of Messrs. Alinevich, Dzyadok and Frantskevich have said that they will appeal the sentences to a higher court.

The five young men were convicted under the Criminal Code`s Article 339, which penalizes "malicious hooliganism," and under Article 218, which penalizes the intentional infliction of damage to property.

Messrs. Alinevich and Vetkin were accused of throwing two fire bottles into the Russian Embassy compound on the night of August 30, 2010. A diplomat`s car was burned in the attack.

Mr. Alinevich, who was arrested in Moscow in November 2010, was also accused of involvement in a Molotov cocktail attack on the Belarusian Armed Forces’ General Staff compound in Minsk in September 2009, and in a September 2010 incident, in which two bottles containing a flammable substance were thrown at the wall and metal door of the detention center on Akrestsina Street in Minsk.
Mr. Vetkin was accused of perpetrating an arson attack on a Belarusbank office in Minsk in May 2010.

Messrs. Dzyadok and Frantskevich were both arrested in September 2010 and charged over the attack on the General Staff compound.

Mr. Dzyadok also stood accused of throwing fireworks into the House of Trade Unions in Minsk in August 2010 and at Shangri La Casino in Minsk in May 2010.

Messrs. Frantskevich and Selivonchyk were accused of smashing a widow in a police station in Salihorsk in March 2010.

The defense lawyers called for acquitting their clients. In particular, the lawyer for Mr. Dzyadok noted that most of the witnesses heard in court had denied seeing Mr. Dzyadok during the attack on the General Staff compound, and that the accusations against him were based on the testimony of only one witness.

The defense insisted that only slight damage had been caused by the attacks on the House of Trade Unions and the casino.

The accusations against Mr. Alinevich were only based on allegations by a witness who did not appear in court. Mr. Vetkin gave contradictory accounts on Mr. Alinevich`s alleged involvement in the attacks and there is no material evidence proving his involvement, said Mr. Alinevich`s lawyer.