The court of Leninsky district of Minsk fined the former presidential candidate and former rector of the Belarusian State University Alaxandar Kazulin 20 basic units (BYR 700,000) for disorderly conduct.
The court found the charge proved, according to which May 6, 2010, returning from a meeting of the Supreme Court on "the case of Vaukavysk entrepreneurs", Alyaxander Kazulin disrupted public order, in particular, shouted obscenities.
The court's decision was based on the testimony of two police officers – Dzmitry Chaushau and Viktar Lyashkevich – who drew up the report on the detention. It should be noted that during the trial the policemen repeatedly contradicted themselves in their statements, could tell neither the place nor the time of the detention, and failed to clearly formulate what was the nature of the offense.
According to the testimony of witnesses for the defence, among whom were well-known human rights advocates Raisa Mikhailouskaya and Viachaslau Siuchyk, Alyaxander Kazulin committed no illegal actions. However, the court did not take into account their testimony. What is more, the court rejected the motion to watch the video recording of the detention made by the news agency BelaPAN.
"The judge passed the sentence not only upon himself but upon the entire system. We all saw him leaving the room four times to seek somebody’s advice. Everything was obvious. No evidence of my guilt was provided in court. Therefore, I’ll repeat, it is clear that this was a sentence on the whole system. It proves that there is no justice in Belarus and the police and courts perform the function of punitive organs", – said Alyaxander Kazulin.
May 12 the Leninsky District Court considered the case of other activists detained after the trial of Mikalay Autukhovich, Uladzimir Asipenka, and Mikhail Kazlou. The youth activists Mikalay Dzemidzenka and Uladislau Yaromenka and the entrepreneur Alyaxander Makayeu fined 15 basic units (BYR 525,000).
