Details of Detention and Trial over Viktar Harbachou

09.01.2008. Tags: administrative trials, entrepreneurs.
Source: Charter`97.

According to Viktar Harbachou, leader of the campaign For Free Development of Business, the authorities want to isolate him before the meeting of entrepreneurs on 10 January. He said it in the interview to BelaPAN.

The leader of entrepreneurs’ movement had trial on 8 January. V.Harbachou and his family were detained on the railway station in Barysau (Minsk oblast) in the morning. In the train an unknown man began to molest him and his 13-years-old son, trying to provoke a fight.

‘This man waited a reaction from me. But I was warned that a provocation against me was planned on 8-9 January and was quiet,’ V.Harbachou said.

According to him, a stranger made no secret he was sent by somebody, because he said: ‘All the same I will fight with you. I have a task.’ V.Harbachou said when they were passing along the train, this man tried to ‘push my wife Sviatlana under the train. In fact it was an attempted murder. Only because my wife was holding my hand firmly, she didn’t fall down,’ V.Harbachou noted.

As soon as the police made move towards the participants of the incident, the stranger run away. Soon a trial over V.Harbachou began. He was incriminated minor hooliganism according to the article 17 of the Administrative Code. Howevre, the chairman of the Barysau district court, who was to consider the case of the leader of the campaign For Free Development of Business, took a resignation. He alleged as his reason that he studied with the accused at the law faculty of the Belarusian State University.

After a short break, the trial was reopened. The session was headed by deputy head of the Barysau district court Mikalai Kananchuk. The 13-years-old son of the entrepreneur gave evidence in the presence of his teacher. As a result V.Harbachou was declared not guilty. But, according to him, the persecution will continue. ‘I can say with certainty they won’t allow me to come to Kastrychnitskaya Square on 10 January,’ V.Harbachou said. For this date individual entrepreneurs scheduled a rally of protest against the decree №760 of 29 December, 2006, according to which individual entrepreneurs can employ only close relatives since 1 January 2008.