The defense lawyer for the convicted leaders of businessmen Valery Levaneuski and Aliaxandr Vasilieu filed with the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus an appeal against the verdict passed by the Leninski Borough Court of Hrodna.

18.02.2005.

- Two appeals have been filed, one for Vasilieu and one for Levaneuski. We ask the Supreme Court to cancel the verdict. Numerous procedural violations were committed during the litigation in Hrodna. Expert examinations were not considered, and witnesses who had testified in favor of the defendants were not called up to take part in the proceedings. The evidence allowed in the courtroom was treated almost like expert conclusions, though the linguistic examination has to be provided by experts, Aliaxandr Birylau, who appeared for the defendants in court, says to PAHONIA. - I had a meeting with Vasilieu and Levaneuski, and can say that they are determined to keep up the fight. What we’ll do next will depend on the resolution adopted by the Supreme Court of the country. According to the legislation, it has to provide a decision within a month’s time.
During the meeting with their lawyer, which took place on 15 and 16 February, the political convicts spoke of the difficult conditions in the prison, of the inadequate healthcare facilities and nutrition problems. Valery Levaneuski also said that the prison administration is not registering his letters that he is sending to different levels of the power structures and is not getting any response to them.
We would like to remind you that Valery Levaneuski and Aliaxandr Vasilieu were sentenced by Leninski Borough Court of Hrodna in September last year to two years in prison for “insulting the president”. The verdict passed was based on the following phrase – “Come and say you are against someone going away to Austria for a skiing holiday, and pleasing himself as he likes” printed in a flyer. The court decided that this phrase undermines the dignity of Aliaxandr Lukashenka.

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