Judge Yury Urban began to announce the verdict against Olga Stepanova on September 7 at 14:20 in the Railway District Court of Viciebsk. The verdict of the judge is 6 months of restriction of freedom in the colony-settlement for causing death by negligence. The defendant was changed the measure of restraint to a written undertaking not to leave, and she was released from custody in the courtroom.

The process on the woman in labor began on 30 August. The trial was held in closed session, which deprived the public of the opportunity to add up an objective opinion about both the circumstances of the death of the child and the fairness of the sentence announced on their basis.

Probably, the details of the case concerning the time, through which the ambulance, and then the resuscitation arrived on the call of the woman in childbirth, according to the will of the judge, will forever remain a mystery behind seven seals. The strange logic of the state machine, which allows murder through abortion and punishes for death during childbirth, does not lend itself to a sober explanation.

Due to the presence of a large number of journalists and videographers in the hall of the Zheleznodorozhny District Court, Judge Yuri Urban began by questioning the participants in the trial regarding their attitude to video fixing. As the injured party (Oleg Stepanov, the husband of the accused), so Olga herself spoke against filming. This attitude was supported both by the state prosecutor and by the defendants' lawyers. Nevertheless, the judge allowed to photograph and make an audio recording of the announcement of the court verdict.

Verdict: in accordance with part 3 of Article 23 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus in a case considered in a closed court session, the court found Olga Stepanov guilty of causing death by negligence on the basis of part 1 of article 144 of the Criminal Code and appointed her a penalty in the form of freedom restriction for a period of six months with the serving of punishment in the correctional colony in the conditions of settlement.

The court decided to change the measure of restraint to a written undertaking not to leave the place and to release the defendant from custody immediately in the courtroom. As punishment, the time of her detention from May 6 to September 7 was taken into account. In addition, the court recovered from Olga Stepanova in the republican budget revenue 310.47 rubles spent on the purchase of supplies for forensic examinations.

After the release, Olga Stepanova, despite the hopes of journalists, declined to comment.

S. Horki