English

Fashion designer Sasha Varlamaw denies any wrongdoing in his final speech

 

Prominent fashion designer Sasha (Alyaksandr) Varlamaw, who is on trial in the Leninski District Court in Minsk, denied any wrongdoing in his final speech on Friday and stressed that he was proud of his work.

The 58-year-old Varlamaw is facing a variety of corruption charges connected with his activity as the director of a fashion and modeling agency and the organizer of a festival called Mlyn Mody (Fashion Mill).

The public prosecutor in the trial demanded five years' imprisonment for the accused.

Speaking on Friday, Mr. Varlamaw said that all participants, many viewers and even officers of his detention center were proud of Mlyn Mody.

Every aspect of this project is beautiful, except the financial one, he said, adding that he was not an “economist or account” to pay attention to it.

Mr. Varlamaw said that he was very unwell but looking forward to “a just and humane judgment to live the rest of my days quietly.”

Nadzeya Navitskaya, a judge of the Leninski District Court in Minsk who is presiding over the trial, said that she would pronounce her decision on July 23.

Following the court session, Mr. Varlamaw's lawyer, Pavel Pivavarchyk, confirmed that his client’s condition was very serious, explaining that he suffered from constant pain in his arms and spine.

Speaking during the trial on June 25, Mr. Pivavarchyk called on Judge Navitskaya to acquit his client. In particular, he denied that Mr. Varlamaw had misappropriated public funds provided for Belarusian designers' and models' trips abroad, explaining that the money had been spent for arranging fashion shows.

In addition, Mr. Pivavarchyk denied that the designer had used advertisements of Mlyn Mody to promote his modeling agency and used Belarusian State University's premises for models' training.

Held in custody since May 20, 2011, Mr. Varlamaw went on trial this past February.

He is accused of pocketing almost €25,000 in public funds provided for Belarusians' trips to fashion shows abroad. In addition, the prosecution insists that Mr. Varlamaw told models traveling abroad for fashion shows to compensate him for their travel and living expenses, while in fact the expenses had been paid for by the government and sponsors.

He is also accused of evading millions of rubels in taxes by accepting off-the-books payments from models for their training.
As many as 353 people were given the status of victim in the case. Hundreds more were interviewed in the capacity of witnesses.

In February, the trial was interrupted for several days for Mr. Varlamaw to have a magnetic resonance imaging scan. The man underwent a spinal surgery in July 2012 and was registered as having a second-degree disability last fall. He complained that it was difficult for him to stand or sit during the trial. //BelaPAN