Trial over Kanaplyou is warning to all officials

The dictator has made it clear to officeholders from “the vertical of power” that he would not spare even his childhood friend.

Such an opinion has been expressed in an interview to charter97.org website by the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the 12th convocation, a police general-lieutenant Myachyslau Hryb.

- The former chairman of the “chamber of representatives” Uladzimir Kanaplyou stands trial. How is it possible, while he is one of the closest Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s friends?

- There are no constant friends in big-league politics. There is practical friendship there; that is, intended for teamwork. And when there is no teamwork, there is no friendship as well.

- Kanaplyou is tried for failure to report a crime. At the same time, he is Vice President of the National Olympics Committee, which was linked to a corruption scandal. Could it be the real reason?

- This article is used extremely rarely in judicious practice, and something else could be at the back of it. One cannot exclude that it is related to the fact that ahead of the presidential “election” Lukashenka speaks about the so-called anti-corruption efforts more and more often. It’s something like: look, how honest and t scrupulous I am, I do not spare anyone in the fight against crime and corruption, even my childhood friend.

- It is known that Kanaplyou is tried in the framework of the trial over the former deputy Prosecutor General of Belarus Alyaksandr Arkhipau, who faces from 7 to 15 years of imprisonment. However, none of the defendants in the case are put under arrest. Why is it so, to your mind?

- They can be put under arrest, but in case the investigator finds that while at large they would not interfere with the investigation, he can avoid applying the sanction of putting them under arrest. It could be probably related to the fact that the punishment for them is going to be rather mild, or be absent at all. In Belarus, if there is a desire to imprison, the person is imprisoned at once. In any case, the sentence is to be pronounced soon, and everything is to become clear.