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Activists demand that authorities respect rights of jailed Andrey Haydukow

A group of human rights defenders have demanded that authorities respect the rights of arrested opposition activist Andrey Haydukow and observe laws while investigating his case.

Mr. Haydukow, 23, has been charged with high treason. He is held in the detention center of the Committee for State Security (KGB) in Minsk.

In a statement posted on www.spring96.org, the activists note that the KGB has committed "flagrant violations" of Mr. Haydukow's rights. In particular, the suspect has been repeatedly denied access to his lawyer in violation of the constitution and the Criminal Procedure Code, while his family were not told the young man's whereabouts after his arrest.

The activists also attack the KGB for prohibiting the lawyer from making public any information related to the case.

Mr. Haydukow was arrested in Vitsyebsk on November 8, 2012. He was immediately taken to the KGB jail in Minsk and charged with spying.

At the end of the month, he was transferred to a detention facility in Vitsyebsk. On December 22, he was brought back to Minsk and placed in the detention center on Valadarskaha Street. Five days later, he was moved to the KGB jail.

KGB spokesman Alyaksandr Antanovich announced on November 13 that Mr. Haydukow had "gathered and passed political and economic information on the instructions of a foreign intelligence agency," and that he had been caught in the act of making a dead drop. //BelaPAN