Vasily Parfiankou granted respite until July 17

A former political prisoner was to read materials of his criminal case today, but an investigator postponed a meeting until Wednesday.

Vasily Parfiankou told the news to charter97.org.

“An investigator from Minsk's Pershamaiski district police department called me in the morning and said that I must come to him on Wednesday at 15:00. According to him, the meeting was postponed, because a lawyer couldn't come today. I may be taken into custody from 6 to 12 months under the charges. No other variants,” Vasily Parfiankou said.

The former political prisoner again stressed that he links the prosecution to insufficient pressure on the Belarusian regime.

“We see no liberalisation in Belarus. Repression continues and becomes stronger. My case and a threat of criminal prosecution of Uladzimir Yaromenak confirm it,” he said.

Vasily Parfiankou was summoned to the Pershamaiski district police department in late June. He was told that a new criminal case, the third one, had been initiated against him for violating the rules of police supervision.

Vasily Parfiankou was the first activist to be convicted in the case of the events on December 19. In February 2011, Minsk's Frunzenski district court found him guilty of taking part in mass disorders and sentenced him to four years in a maximum security correctional colony. Parfiankou was obliged to pay more than 14 million rubles for broken windows in the House of Government. He was pardoned by Lukashenka in August 2011.

He was put under preventive supervision on January 5, 2012. The Investigation Committee initiated the second criminal case against Parfiankou in April for violation of the rules of the supervision. In May, the Pershamaiski district court found Parfiankou guilty of violating police supervision rules and sentenced him to a 6-moths term in custody. He was transfered to the detention facility in Baranavichy in August 2012.

After the release in February 2013, Parfiankou said he would continue to “support the Belarusian movement”.

In April, Minsk's Pershamaiski district court fined him 8 penalty units for violation of the supervision rules. On May 17, Parfiankou was tried again for the same offence and fined 3 million rubles.