Criminal Case against Yauhen Volkau under Article 193.1 is dropped

On 30 December the Minsk prosecutor’s office for the second time dropped the criminal proceedings against Yauhen Volkau, instigated at the end of June 2009 under Article 193.1. Volkau was accused of acting on behalf of the Movement of Unity (Mun’s Church).

According to information of S.Hrakhouski, senior investigator of cases of especial importance in Minsk, ‘during the investigation the list of material evidence on the criminal case was analyzed, as a result of which there was composed an act on destruction of the part of the documents and materials that contained negative information demonstrating distrust and disrespect to Christian and Moslem faith.’

Bear in mind that the preliminary investigation into the criminal case was finished back on 18 August 2009 and Hrakhouski officially informed Volkau about dropping the criminal case on the basis of Article 29, part 1 paragraph 2 and articles of 250-251 of the Criminal Process Code, because of absence of corpus delicti in actions of the latter.

However, in some time the criminal proceedings were resumed. The case of Yauhen Volkau was the first to be instigated against activists of unregistered religious organizations under Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code since the moment its enforcement in 2006.

The campaign on the abolition of Article 193.1, launched by the Assembly of Pro-democratic NGOs, is going on in the country.