Six opposition political structures demand the immediate release and rehabilitation of the head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Ales Byalyatski.
It is said in a statement signed on November 25 by representatives of the BPF party, the Party "A Just World", the United Civil Party, the movement "For Freedom", the organizing committee of the BCD party and the campaign "Tell the truth".
The document's authors claim that the sentence of Ales Byalyatski is a testament to "a violation of many criminal procedure rules and the rules of conducting a trial".
"Thus, already on August 4, from the very beginning of Ales Byalyatski's detention, against him illegally have been used a restraint of custody. The investigation, ignoring the corresponding instruction from the Prosecutor's Office, refused to address the funds, which transferred money to Ales Byalyatski, with the request of the assets' purpose.
The trial clearly demonstrated, that the state prosecutor has no evidence of Ales Byalyatski's guilt at all. At the trial the fact of receiving funds by Ales Byalyatski has not been confirmed, since the materials on their receipt from the authorities of Lithuania and Poland were not prepared properly.
If any official agency provides reliable information about their own or foreign citizens, and that information is used in the trial, then these materials must be signed and stamped. Official documents not prepared properly cease to be documents, and the prosecutor cannot use them as proof of guilt.
If there was an independent court in Belarus, the judge S. Bondarenko would draw the prosecutor's attention at this point. However, judges in Belarus, when dealing with opponents of the authorities, do not search for the truth, but only looking for formulations according to which an innocent person gets behind bars.
We are convinced that the sentence of Ales Byalyatski is politically motivated, is illegal and therefore subject to an unconditional abolition.
Also, all those who was sentenced for political reasons in connection with the events of 19 December 2010 must be rehabilitated as well", the document says.
As UDF.BY reported earlier, on November 24, Head of the Human Rights Center "Viasna" Ales Byalyatski was sentenced by Piershamaiski District Court of Minsk to 4.5 years of imprisonment to be served in medium security colony with confiscation of property.
Judge Sergei Bondarenko approved the guilt of the human rights defender under Part 2 of Art. 243 of the Criminal Code (concealment of incomes on a large scale). This article provides for up to seven years of imprisonment with confiscation of property as maximum penalty. By decision of the court, Byalyatski must pay 721 million of losses and 36 million of state tax.
