Maskouski District Court of Minsk: Russian citizens Breus and Gaponov fined 10.5 mln rubles each

On 10 March the trial of the criminal case of the Russian citizens Artsiom Breus and Ivan Gaponov, charged with participation in the ‘mass riot’ on 19 December 2010, continued at the Maskouski District Court of Minsk with participation of Judge Liubou Siamakhina and prosecutor Siarhei Kunas.

The trial was attended by OSCE experts and Belarusian human rights defenders.

Five policemen who figure as victims (Bulavatski, Skarakhod, Kudravets, Dziankevich and Komar) were interrogated in the first half of the day. At first the lawyers moved against questioning them as witnesses, because they had been confessed witnesses on 17-18 February and therefore couldn’t have any relation to the case. The motion was dismissed by the judge.

According to human rights defender Valiantsin Stefanovich, none of the witnesses said that Breus and Gaponov had damaged any property. They didn’t say that had seen the defendants, either. He also points that some phrases in the testimonies of at least two victims during the preliminary investigation match, as if copied from the protocol of one interrogation to the other.

In the afternoon, there started the questioning of ten more riot policemen who are victims in the case. Prosecutor Siarhei Kunas asked to fine each of the defendants 17 million rubles (about $5,620) referring to Article 70 of the Criminal Code – ‘Appointment of a punishment milder than provided for the particular crime’.

The lawyers asked the court to justify their clients, because no evidence of the ‘mass riot’ was presented at the trial. Judge Liubou Siamakhina left the court room to prepare the verdict, which would be read at 7 p.m.

At 7.55 the Maskouski district court found Artyom Breus and Ivan Gaponov guilty of violating Article 293, part 2 of the Criminal Code and ruled to fine them 10.5 million rubles (about $3,470) each.

The defendants were released under a written undertaking not to leave.

At 8 p.m. a representative of the Russian Embassy who attended the trial gave an interview to mass media. He stated that the Russian Embassy was relieved at hearing the verdict and emphasized that the defendants pleaded innocent and the embassy had also insisted on their innocence from the very beginning.