Human rights organizations in Belarus is considered the founder of the institution "Platform" Michael Zhemchuzhny as a political prisoner.
Sentence judicial board on criminal cases of the Viciebsk Regional Court on 10/07/2015 in view of the changes made to the judicial verdict of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus of 10.23.2015, Zhemchuzhny Michael I., born in 1955, lives in the city of Viciebsk, he was found guilty of committing crimes h. 5, Art. 16, h. 1, Art. 375 h. 1 and h. 2 art. 376 h. 1 and h. 2 art. 431 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 6 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a penal colony under strict regime of deprivation of the right to hold positions related to the implementation of organizational and administrative duties.
In accordance with the verdict, MI Zhemchuzhnyy was found guilty of inciting the intentional disclosure of other information that constitutes official secret, a person who has (had) access to the data; unlawful acquisition in order to sales and marketing of special technical means intended for secret information; unlawful acquisition in order to sales and marketing of special technical means intended for secret information, committed repeatedly; bribery; bribery again.
For these articles the following acts are qualified Zhemchuzhny MI.:
during 2013 -2014 years, received the consent of police officers (senior inspector – on duty medical detox police department of the Viciebsk Oblast Executive Committee), Zhemchuzhny M. receiving official documents with information that, according to Zhemchuzhny MI, in the public interest: information on prosecutions launched against officials, a summary of the 2012 and 2013 incidents involving law enforcement officials, special report upon the sudden death of a citizen Kudelko IVS ATC Viciebsk Regional Executive Committee, Order of the Ministry of Interior "On certain aspects of personnel work in the Interior Ministry." These documents were transmitted to the Zhemchuzhnyy human rights institution "Platform".
According to the charges for providing such information, Zhemchuzhnyy, MI handed police officers cash. Also, according to the investigation, Zhemchuzhnyy, MI I gave the staff member special technical means intended for secret information.
From the materials of the criminal case, it follows that all the alleged Zhemchuzhny MI episodes of illegal activities committed by them as part of the operational experiment, which consisted of four stages, under the control of the KGB in the Viciebsk region, with the ultimate aim of which was to reveal his connections with foreign citizens. At the same time committing the Zhemchuzhnyy MI certain illegal actions in an environment as close as possible to reality, not suppressed the bodies implementing operative investigative activities, allowing the accused to bring them to the end in order to identify its communication channels and checking it for involvement in the commission of a serious crime under Art. 358 of the Criminal Code (espionage).
We do not exclude that the possible wrongful conduct Zhemchuzhny could be the result of provocation of crime – incitement, inducement, encouragement, directly or indirectly, to commit unlawful acts.
In this situation it is difficult to imagine that, provoking Zhemchuzhny MI to commit a serious crime under Art. 358 of the Criminal Code (espionage), giving the opportunity to bring its action until the end, he was transferred to the actual documents containing such secrets.
It is also clear that, instead of preventing wrongful intent, within the illegally extended operational experiment using a provocateur – police officers who carried out the proactive actions Zhemchuzhny dragged into all new episodes of criminal activity for the purpose of artificial creation of evidence.
Timely prevention of illegal, according to the KGB, Zhemchuzhny operations would significantly reduce the degree of public danger exhibited his actions and assign him a much lighter sentence. Justification of continuing the experiment operational interests of solving the crime against the State (espionage) does not hold water, because is not based on sound assumptions about the intent at Zhemchuzhny carry out such activities. However, such actions of the KGB well within the meaning carried out in the State Security Committee in the 2012-2014 series resonant arrests and accusations of treason (A. Gaidukov, A. Alesin, V. Lazar), which did not end the imposition of appropriate convictions, but largely were designed to increase the role and relevance of the KGB in the state unacceptable in a democratic society techniques.
Motives of Zhemchuzhny MI the gain or were not receiving any other benefits. His actions were motivated misunderstood interests of human rights protection. Contact with the operational staff for unlawful purposes and unlawful methods has always condemned the human rights community.
In accordance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, everyone has the right of any criminal charge against him, to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law. Media and the public may be excluded from all judicial proceedings, or part of it for reasons of morals, public order or national security in a democratic society, or where the interests of the private life of the parties, or – to the extent that in the opinion of the court, is strictly necessary – in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice.
When assessing the fairness of the trial should proceed, and the evaluation of methods of obtaining evidence. The principle of fair trial requires not only compliance with law enforcement agencies to national legislation, but also affects the quality of the law, requiring it to comply with the principle of the rule of law.
In this case it violated the right to the protection of M. Zhemchuzhny: a measure of the impact on the lawyer – defender M. Zhemchuzhny was a warning about the criminal liability for the disclosure of preliminary investigation data. This measure, which is extremely widely used in practice, severely limits the ability of a lawyer to defend the interests of his client.
The preliminary investigation and the trial were completely closed and not transparent, despite the increased interest in the case from the public and the media. At the same time the competent authorities were not given any justification for the need to consider the case in a closed court session. Mentions of the secret nature of some of the documents were given to the court right to conduct only part of the proceedings in closed session to declare the content of these documents. The result was a closed review of concealment from the public questionable practices of law enforcement activities of public authorities.
In this regard, representatives of human rights organizations came to the following conclusion: the condemnation of Michael Zhemchuzhny is unfounded and politically motivated.
Realizing a politically motivated real reason unacceptable in a democratic society the actions or inaction of law enforcement and judicial authorities, and other entities of power, aimed, inter alia, to achieve the goal of strengthening and maintaining power entities authority, we believe that the deprivation of liberty to Michael Zhemchuzhny been applied in violation of the right to a fair trial as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; imprisonment was based on display in the guilt provoked by agents of the State, and hence – non-criminal acts, and the duration and conditions of detention is clearly disproportionate to the offense of which the person has been convicted.
We consider it necessary to demand for the immediate review of Michael Zhemchuzhny received a sentence against him while retaining the right to a fair trial and the elimination of the factors mentioned above.
Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Human Rights Center "Viasna"
Aleh Hulak, chairman of the "Belarusian Helsinki Committee"
Zhanna Litvina, the ex-chairman of the public association "Belarusian Association of Journalists"
Elena Tonkacheva, Chairman of the Board "Center for Legal Transformation"
Raisa Mikhailovskaya, chairman of the "Belarusian dokumentatsionnoga center"
Inna Cooley, chairman of the Committee for Aid to the repressed "Solidarity"
Tatiana Ravyaka, president of the Belarusian Human Rights House of Boris Zvozskov
http://spring96.org/be/news/81519
