Two Zubr Activists Tried in Mahilou
In Mahilou trials started over the youth movement Zubr activists Andrus Palud and Iauhien Suvorau detained by the police on the Day of Solidarity with the political prisoners, and accused of disorderly conduct. Three out of five witnesses, traffic police officers, did not show up for the hearing in court.
The police said that the Zubr activists had been using bad language, expressing their dissatisfaction with the police actions. According to the evidence provided by two regional traffic police officers, when they stopped Andrus Palud's car, the driver and Iauhien Suvorau did not react to their demands and started to swear.
According to the information earlier provided by Radio Liberty, the Zubr activists were detained on 16 November on the Day of Solidarity with the Political Prisoners, when Andrus Paluda was coming back home to Bialynichy. They were taken to the temporary detention center to keep their for twenty four hours.
The witnesses in the trials over Andrus Paluda and Iauhien Suvorau were only two traffic police officers. Those who had drawn up reports and headed the group did not show up for “family reasons” (in the judge's words). The absence of the primary witnesses was the reason why the court hearings were transferred to another date.
The defendants believe that they had been detained for political reasons because the day before they had been distributing the newspapers “16” with a call to “kindle a small fire of freedom on 16 November".
The representative of the Zubr activists, the human rights activist Barys Bukhel, notes that the evidence given by one witness does not agree with that of the other.
They young people, however, started to lose faith in the positive outcome of the trial after the proceedings started to be delayed. This is what Iauhien Suvorau said, who has been repeatedly tried for administrative violations:
(Suvorau: ) “I do not think I will be acquitted because judging by the outcome of the earlier trials Judge Dyblienka did not show any objectivity. The day I spent in detention would count in any way".
