Money to pay alleged debt, penalties, litigation costs in Byalyatski case transferred to district court in Minsk

The money raised to pay what Ales Byalyatski was ordered to pay in his criminal case, including his alleged debt, penalties and litigation costs, has been transferred to the account of the Pershamayski District Court in Minsk.

"On January 18, I transferred 757.5 million rubels [$90,400] from my account to the account of the court," Mr. Byalyatski's wife, Natallya Pinchuk, told BelaPAN. "This is the full amount that my husband was ordered to pay."

Ms. Pinchuk said that she would rather not speculate how this might influence the decision of the judge who would hear her husband's appeal on January 24.

Rights defenders stress that the payment of what is due should not be viewed as an admission of guilt by Mr. Byalyatski.

On November 24, 2011, a judge of the Pershamayski District Court sentenced Mr. Byalyatski, chairman of a human rights organization called Vyasna and vice president of the International Federation for Human Rights, to four and a half years in prison on a charge of large-scale tax evasion.

The charge stemmed from information about Mr. Byalyatski's bank accounts abroad, which was provided by authorities in Lithuania and Poland. During his trial, Mr. Byalyatski insisted that the money transferred by various foundations to his bank accounts abroad had been intended to finance Vyasna's activities and therefore could not be viewed as his income.