Hrodna: court did not reinstate history lecturer Andrei Charniakevich at work
On 7 December the trial on the case of the historian Andrei
Charniakevich came to an end at the Leninski District Court of
Hrodna.
In October the assistant professor of the Hrodna
State University named after Yanka Kupala Andrei Charniakevich had
been dismissed for alleged violations of the labor discipline. He
tried to get reinstated at work through court. The trial was lead by
the judge Liudmila Zhukouskaya and took five hearings.
On 7
December Andrei Charniakevich and his counsel had their last plea, as
well as representatives of the defendant, after which a break was
announced. After it, the judge upheld the university ruling for
Charniakevich's dismissal.
“By this trial we wanted to
prove the inadequacy of the punishment to the scale of the allegedly
admitted violation. The difficulty was that we were limited to the
formal side of the case. The real reason of my dismissal, connected
to the publication of the Hrodna Studies and my participation in the
program “Hrodna Names” at Radio “Racyja”, were factually
banned. All our attempts to turn the attention of the court to the
connection between the “prohibited” book and the dismissal were
wain. Thus, the verdict was predictable,” commented Mr.
Charniakevich.
