Analytical review of the court proceedings on the criminal case of the citizens of the Russian Federation Artyom Breus and Ivan Gaponov. The last day.

On 10 March the trial of the criminal case of the Russian citizens Artyom 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, prosecutor Siarhei Kunas and lawyers Alena Kazak and Liudmila Siarheyeva.

The judge read the names of the fifteen police officers who had allegedly received injuries during the 19 December rally (Bozhka, Bulavatski, Davydovich, Dziankevich, Filipenka, Karavai, Kashtalan, Komar, Kudrautsou, Lavitski, Masalski, Palavinkin, Sapach, Volkau, Ziankevich) and declared them victims in the case, despite the objections of the counsels.

The lawyers also protested against questioning these people as witnesses, because they had been confessed witnesses on 17-18 February and therefore couldn’t have any relation to the case. By the way, this opinion is shared by human rights defenders. Nevertheless, the motion was dismissed by the judge.

The prosecutor started questioning the defendants according to the new charges.

Artyom Breus and Ivan Gaponov pleaded innocent. They repeated the testimonies that had been given by them on 22 February 2011, during the previous court sitting. Both of them confessed being in the Nezalezhnastsi Square on 19 December 2011 because of interest to the events. They said they had no intention to participate in a mass riot and hadn't taken part in it, hadn't committed any violent actions and hadn't demolished any property.

The questioning of victims followed the questioning of Breus and Gaponov. All the 15 are officers of the special mission police regiment of the Main Police Department of the Minsk City Executive Committee. They were confessed witnesses by rulings of the investigation of 17-18 February 2011. All of them were examined by forensic expertise, according to which they received injuries of various degrees of severity: from light one (which didn't entail short-term health disorder) to beating and "feeling of physical pain". In their testimonies, the victims described actions of the rally participants as "aggressive" and accompanied with blows and kicks on their baffles and helmets. Some of the victims stated they had been dragged out of the police cordon, somebody had attempted to tear off helmets from their heads or had done it, an action participant had poured them from a fire extinguisher, as a result of which one of them had suffered a light burn of respiratory tracts. At the same time, a large group of victims stated they hadn't seen demonstrators holding any things in their hands. Victim Palavinkin, a policeman in civvies who guarded the public order on the square, stated that the majority of the action participants had behaved quietly. Groups of people stood there and discussed something, holding transparencies and flags in their hands. He didn't see any other things (metal bars, sticks, etc.) in their hands. What should be noticed – some phrases in the protocols of interrogation of the victims are absolutely identical. The interrogations were held on 17-18 February 2011, during the time when the victims underwent the forensic expertise, i.e. two months after the events. Being asked whether they had seen the defendants during the 19 December, all victims answered that they saw Breus and Gaponov for the first time. Answering the question of the defense whether they considered themselves as victims of the defendants' actions, the victims answered they didn't.

Having studied the written materials of the case, the judge declared the end of the court investigation and the beginning of the pleadings.

State prosecutor S. Kunas took the floor first. In his speech he stated that the guilty of A. Breus and I. Gaponov in violating Article 293, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus was completely proved. However, he considered it possible to use Article 70 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus: "The issue of milder punishment than provided for the given crime". According to the state accusation, the exceptional circumstances in this case are that the accused were young people without previous convictions, their actions didn't entail hard consequences and the whole scope of the material damage resulting from the crime had been compensated.

Counsels Alena Kazak and Liudmila Siarheyeva asked in their speeches for a complete justification of A. Breus and I. Gaponov in connection with the absence of corpus delicti in their actions. According to their opinion, the events of 19 December cannot be qualified as a mass riot, because they didn't contain such necessary elements of mass riots as pogroms, arsons, property demolition and armed resistance to the police. Moreover, according to the opinion of the defense, the participation of Breus and Gaponov in the mass riot wasn't proved. According to Article 293, part 2 of the Criminal Code, the participation in a mass riot must be accompanied by realization of concrete actions by the accused – arsons, pogroms, personal violence, demolition of property and armed resistance to the police.

According to the verdict, Artyom Breus and Ivan Gaponov were found guilty of the crime punished by Article 293, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. The court used Article 70 of the Criminal Code to mitigate the sentence and fined  both of them 10.5 million rubles (about $3,470). The restraint in the form of custody was changed to written undertaking not to leave and behave properly. The civil proceedings within the limits of this criminal case were cancelled after the plaintiff revoked the lawsuit due to the complete compensation of the material damage.


Conclusions of the Human Rights Center Viasna

The Human Rights Center Viasna reached the following conclusions on the basis of monitoring of the court proceedings on the case of A. Breus and I. Gaponov:

1. No evidence was presented at court that the events of 19 December 2010 in Nezalezhnasts Square of Minsk were a mass riot, which must be accompanied with personal violence, pogroms, arsons, demolition of property and armed resistance to public officers.
2. No evidence was presented at court that A. Breus and I. Gaponov actively participated in the mass riot. According to Article 293, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus, participation in a mass riot  manifests in the direct use of personal violence, pogroms, arsons, defilement of property and armed resistance to public officers.
3. The evidence that was presented to the court confirms only the personal presence of A. Breus and I. Gaponov in the group of demonstrators in the Nezalezhnasts Square near the central entrance of the Government House, which can by no means constitute corpus delicti.
4. In such circumstances, the Human Rights Center Viasna considers that the issued verdict is unlawful and must be abolished because of the absence of corpus delicti in the actions of A. Breus and I. Gaponov.
5. The Human Rights Center Viasna insists on the complete acquittal of the convicted, A. Breus and I. Gaponov.