Homel: fine to Halina Staraselets left standing
On 2 September the Tsentralny District Court of Homel repeatedly
considered the administrative case against Halina Staraselets. She was again
found guilty of using obscene language in public (Article 17.1 of the Code of
Administrative Offences) and was fined 105,000 rubles.
Mrs. Staraselets was an occasional passer-by detained by the police after the end
of the silent protest action on 3 July in Homel. She was talking to her son
over her mobile phone at the time of the detention. She was kept in jail during
the night before the first trial.
On 4 July Judge Alena Tsalkova sentenced Halina to pay a fine. However, the
woman successfully appealed the verdict at the Homel Region Court which returned the
case for the second trial.
This time the case was considered by Judge Maryna Damnenka. She ignored the
testimony of a witness who confirmed that the woman had been talking over the
phone during the detention and “trusted” to the report of police officer
Aliaksandr Siuzeu according to which she was using four-letter words.
The punished woman considers all these trials as a cynical farce, a mockery of
justice, and is going to appeal this verdict as well.
