UCP leader Mikalai Kazlou sentenced to three months in prison for disclosing investigation data

The Lieninski District Court of Minsk sentenced Mikalai Kazlou, chairman of the opposition United Civil Party (UCP) and a member of the Coordination Council, to three months in jail. He was found guilty under Part 1 of Art. 407 of the Criminal Code for disclosing data in a criminal case targeting the opposition Council.

However, no details of the accusation are unknown, as the trial was held behind closed doors. Earlier, Kazlou repeatedly refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement after being interrogated by the Investigative Committee in the criminal case against the Coordination Council. He has already been brought to administrative responsibility for that.

Judge Tatsiana Shotsik ordered the most severe punishment under the criminal article. Prosecutor Vadzim Lalua earlier requested this exact punishment for the opposition politician.

The trial took three days. The hearings never revealed what exactly Mikalai Kazlou was accused of, because even before the charge was announced, the prosecutor filed a motion to hold a closed trial. The politician categorically spoke out against it:

“I believe that this case is politically motivated, trumped up and aims to simply punish me for my political activities. It is a disgraceful case, both for the investigator who designed it and for the prosecutor who studied the case, which is nevertheless before this court. There is nothing secret we are hearing here. There is absolutely no need for a closed court session.”

The lawyer supported her client by saying that the trial should be transparent and open.

However, Judge Tatsiana Shotsik decided to classify the criminal case against the politician, justifying it by the fact that “the criminal case file contains data of the preliminary investigation, which are not subject to disclosure.”