Court Leaves Andrei Kim in Custody
On 19 February Minsk city court heard the appeal of Andrei Kim’s mother against his detention in the pre-trial prison in Valadarski Street in Minsk. She asked the court to change the restraint to her son. The court sitting was closed, only Andrei’s lawyer was admitted to it.
The judge Volha Kamarouskaya made the lawyer to sign that he will preserve the confidentiality of the court sitting. That’s why the reasons why the restraint was not changed remain unknown.
The activist’s friends and relatives and the representative of the US Embassy in Belarus Steven Kovac awaited the verdict in the court corridors. Minsk city court was the last instance where the restraint to Kim could be appealed against. At present the activist is kept in a cell for 10 people where 14 people are kept. That’s why they have to sleep in turns.
