Office of Prosecutor General closes criminal cases against Anatol Liabedzka

The Office of the Prosecutor General of Belarus dropped the two criminal cases against the head of the United Civil Party Anatol Liabedzka. He has been informed about it today.

In his interview with RFE/RL the politician said: ‘Today I have met with the head of the first department of the Office of the Prosecutor General, Mr. Ivanou. He passed to me the ruling on suspension of criminal persecution and the ruling for cessation of the preliminary investigation. From these papers I learned that an investigator of the cases of especial importance Ahafounau considered the both cases and decided to close them.’

The first of the two criminal cases was brought on 27 November 2001 for an article in the Narodnaya Volia newspaper and the second – on 1 March 2004, for an interview in Mikhail Svanidze’s program Zerkalo (Mirror) at the Russian TV Channel RTR. The oppositionist was charged with dissemination of knowingly false information about the president of the Republic of Belarus.

These cases served as the formal reason for putting Anatol Liabedzka on the list of the persons to whom travel restrictions are used.