Anatol Lyabedzka demands to close criminal case against him
17:56, — Politics
Anatol Lyabedzka, head of the United Civil Party, sent a motion to dismiss to the Minsk prosecutor’s office on 25 March.
He said the procuracy hadn’t managed to collect convincing facts of his guilt on the case on ”libel against the president” since 2004.
“In the process of investigation I didn’t confess my guilt and gave evidence that suspicion against me were unfounded,” the politician noted. “I learnt the information, I said in the interview to Nikolai Svanidze, journalist of Russia TV Channel, from official sources and speeches of Belarusian officials, including Lukashenka. The interview reflects my opinion, an opinion of a politician and a citizen, on the facts and their estimation, not slanderous inventions.”
The city procuracy said earlier the proceeding was suspended because the Russian law enforcement agencies didn’t want to cooperate with the Belarusian colleagues on this matter. As the case is still open, Anatol Lyabedzka is restricted to travel abroad since the end of 2007. “I think this situation is simulated and politically motivated to hinder my activity as an oppositional party leader,” the UCP head noted in the motion.
According to him, denial of the Russian law enforcement agencies on rendering legal aid on this case can be explained by the fact they don’t see libel in his statements. “They think the reason and the grounds that give occasion for the criminal case initiating are far-fetched and unlawful,” Anatol Lyabedzka said. “Bedsides, the criminal laws of Russian don’t contain such components of crime.”
The criminal case against Anatol Lyabedzka was initiated in 2004 on the initiative of the Procuracy General on part 1 of article 367 of the Criminal Code (libel against president of Belarus) after he had given an interview to the programme “Mirror” (Russia TV Channel) and published articles in “Narodnaya Volya” newspaper on the theme of shadow budget and trade in arms.
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