Ivan Kruk’s case considered at Hrodna Region Court
The Hrodna Region Court reversed the ruling of a lower court according to which Mr. Kruk was to be fined 1,050,000 rubles (about $348) for defamation of a state official. The case was returned for reconsideration.
Ivan Kruk, on his part, is sure that the arguments he presented to the court are sufficient for his acquittal.
’I think I’ve won at the first stage, at the region court. There will be a new trial, a new stage, quite a complicated one. They will pressurize me and my people, engage the executive committee, the police and KGB. Why? They will take measures to block me as I raise questions connected to the electoral campaign and the way it was held in the Astravets district.
Ivan Kruk believes that such relations with the local authorities are a result of his human rights activism and the attempt to get registered as a candidate at the latest election to the local council of deputies.
