Espionage case: trial of Andrei Haidukou postponed
As
stated by Andrei's mother Volha Haidukova, his counsels told her that
the trial would continue on Monday.
They also said that the
guy kept calmly, but was still not quite health and couldn't speak
because of the cough, informs Radio "Liberty".
Next
monday, the court will hear the witnesses. Volha Haidukova hasn't
received a writ as a witness. Now she says she will go to Vitsebsk
even if the judges will be reluctant to her her testimony.
The
mother commented on the information that the court verdict will be
announced publicly at an open court session:
"It won't
make any difference. If the people aren't given an opportunity to
hear everything from the very beginning and are only read the
verdict, nobody will find about the essence of the charges against
Andrei, for what he is considered to be a spy. How can be believe to
the things we will hear? What for did they need to make such a secret
out of this trial?"
23-year-old Andrei Haidukou, who
worked as an operator at the Navapolatsk oil processing plant
"Naftan", was arrested on 8
November in Minsk. According to the official information of the KGB
it was allegedly done "while he was making a cache with
information which could may be relevant to foreign intelligence
services". Since then, he was kept in custody: mostly in the KGB
remand prison in Minsk with the exception of one month for which he
was transferred to the Vitsebsk remand prison, and the last days,
when he was again transferred to Vitsebsk for the trial.
Article
356 of the Criminal Code, "treason to the state in the form of
intelligence work", envisages 7-15 years of imprisonment.
Andrei Haidukou is the leader of the unregistered public
association "Union of Young Intellectual" and an activist
of the organizing committee of the party "Belarusian Christian
Democracy".
