Lawyers of political prisoners haven’t found justice in court

The court of first instance upheld the decision of the Ministry of Justice on disbarring certain Belarusian lawyers.

Ministry of Justice of Belarus Viktatr Halavanau told this to journalists on April 4, BelaPAN news agency reports.

According to him, lawyers Uladzimir Toustsik and Tamara Haraeva tried to appeal against the decision by the Ministry of Justice on disbarring. The court denied the appeal. “The decision has not entered into legal force yet. They will possibly to appeal against it in a court of higher instance,” Halavanau added.

He confirmed that the Ministry of Justice had received a letter from the European Criminal Bar Association regarding disbarring of some Belarusian lawyers.

“We have received the appeal. We will give an answer. As for taking this decision, we were guided by the national legislation, the norms of international law, and professional ethics. These lawyers committed violations,” Halavanau said.

He says in particular, that lawyers Aleh Aheeu and Tatsyana Aheeva had “some financial violations; other two lawyers unreasonably refused to defend citizens that violated their right for legal defence”.

It should be noted that disbarred lawyers Aleh Aheeu, Tatsyana Aheeva, Uladzimir Toustsik, and Tamara Haraeva defended the persons involved in the criminal case over mass riot in Minsk on December 19.