Artak Kirokasyan: This is a trial of the entire independent civil society sector in Belarus
FIDH Secretary
General and Chairman of the Civil Society Institute (Armenia) Artak Kirakosyan,
who has been closely following the trial of FIDH Vice-President Ales Bialiatski,
has commented on the “new charges” that were brought against the Belarusian
human rights defender on 16 November.
- Today, the hearing of the criminal case against the head of the Human Rights
Center “Viasna” Ales
Bialiatski was resumed after a break. You are keeping an eye on the trial. How could
you comment on the new charges that everyone has been waiting for?
- I believe that the authorities themselves have become hostages of the
situation that they created, and now they cannot figure out how to get out of
it in the best way possible. It is absolutely clear to everyone that the trial
is politically motivated, and I think the authorities are now deliberately slowing
the trial to look around, waiting, perhaps, for some changes in the views of
the international community or within Belarus. In my opinion, all this is
merely an attempt to delay and buy time.
- The previous session ended with the prosecutor's motion for a break to draft the
new charges, significantly different from the previous ones. In fact, the new
wording of the charges says nothing to an outsider; in reality, it remained the
same – tax evasion on a large scale. In your opinion, did the authorities
decide not to apply Article 193.1, the possible move suggested in independent
circles?
- I think in this case, all these formalities are of no special role, because
everyone is waiting for a political decision to be made. I think for the
authorities the situation is also too hard, they spun a story to which it is
difficult to find a reasonable solution, and therefore are dragging the trial
to look at the possible reactions.
Today, the authorities decided not to burn bridges, as it would surely be in case
of bringing charges under Article 193.1 of the Criminal Code; and they still do
not really know yet what to do next. However, it should be noted that time does
not work for them, because of the increasing international support for Ales;
and the organization that I represent – the International Federation for Human
Rights – is taking significant moves in this direction and will consistently
pursue this line. To us, it is not just a question of our colleague, our friend
Ales Bialiatski. I want to emphasize that this is not only his trial; this is a
trial of the entire independent civil sector in Belarus.
Considering this, I think the authorities have, just like is case of similar
regimes, put themselves in a position to which there is no decent way. It is too
late – they have crossed the border. Now, in my opinion, the issue is to
somehow justify their actions in front of everybody, and in front of the
Belarusian people – as the denigrating campaign, currently underway in the state
media, is purely state-ordered, and the verdict must somehow meet it – and in
front of the international community, too. But in fact it is already
impossible. The only possible solution would be to admit their mistakes and
unconditionally acquit Ales Bialiatski. But the Belarusian authorities are not
apparently capable of this.
