Polish Prosecutor’s Office gave out Vyasna’s accounts as well

The General Prosecutor’s Office of Poland had shared with official Belarus information about bank accounts of Vyasna chair Ales Byalyatski back in June this year.

PAP agency has been informed about that by the spokesman of the General Prosecutor’s Office Maciej Kujawski.

As said by Belarusian opposition representatives in Poland and by human rights NGOs in Belarus, the Polish General Prosecutor’s Office had provided information about bank accounts of Belarusian oppositionists, PAP reports.

“The General Prosecutor’s Office has used the request for legal assistance in Ales Byalyatski’s case, however this inquiry in its essence did not contain information which would suggest it concerned an opposition activist or his oppositional activities,” Mr. Kujawski said answering the questions. The agency asked whether the General Prosecutor’s Office of Poland had passed over any information about bank accounts of Ales Byalyatski and other Belarusian oppositionists.

Michal Dworchyk, a member of “Freedom and Democracy” foundation told PAP that “in the framework of legal assistance Belarusians had addressed Poland and asked for information about bank accounts operations of those who are engaged in democratic opposition and human rights activities in Belarus.”

“In late June an answer in the affirmative was given, and the Polish side provided information on bank accounts, of Ales Byalyatski in particular, as well as other oppositionists in Belarus,” Dworczyk stated.

“By all appearance, previously Belarusians addressed the banks directly, and they refused to provide such information. In its turn, the General Prosecutor’s Office had not refused, and a decision to give this information was adopted at the level of one of the directors of the General Prosecutor’s Office’s departments,” he added.

Maciej Kujawski in his written answer to the questions of PAP said that legal assistance in criminal cases between Poland and Belarus is carried out in accordance with the agreement on legal aid and legal relations in civil, family, labour and criminal cases, signed in Minsk on October 26, 1994.

Maciej Kujawski said that when a request for legal assistance concerns a criminal case, and there is no information in it that the crime had been related to oppositional activities, Polish prosecutors cannot discern whether the person in the request is engaged in oppositional activities or not.

“Thus, it does not seem possible to recognize whether the requests concerned activists of Belarusian opposition,” he stressed.

“The information contained in the inquiries of foreign states for granting legal assistance concerns legal proceedings held by the side which applies, by Belarus in this case, and could be used only in connection with carrying out these proceedings. Thus, there are no reasons for releasing these inquiries to public. If fulfillment of the request could threaten sovereignty or national security of the state or would contradict main principles of the state’s legislation, to which the request is made, under Article 19 of the abovementioned agreement the request is turned down,” Mr Kujawski said.

Polish MEP Krzysztof Lisek has called the actions of the Polish General Prosecutor’s Office an ordinary scandal. According to him, Poland support the Belarusian opposition in many ways and its state institutions have given out one of the most active representatives of the opposition to Belarus.