Lawsuit against guard who attacked “Novy chas” newspaper retailer, dismissed

On January 15 the third session of the court in the case opened against a guard of Mahilyou shop 777 Prokharau, who prevented an activist Viktar Charavukhin to distribute an independent newspaper “Novy chas”.

On November 5, 2014 a security guard Prokharau pushed the activist out of the shop and threatened that he would be strangled in case the guard would see him with his newspapers once again.

- It was a new guard. He called “Novy chas” newspaper a fascist newspaper, and me a member of the Belarusian Popular Front. He seized me and started to strangle. I had small abrasions on my skin, -- Viktar Charavukhin said to Viasna human rights centre.

On November 8 the activist of the Conservative Christian Party – Belarusian People’s Front called in a district policeman and filed a report at a police department. After the shop guard was questioned, it was confirmed that the incident had taken pace. A report was drawn up against the guard. The man working in the shop 777 in Chelyuskinty Street in Mahilyou is charged under Article 9 Part 3 of the Administrative Code (Insult).

In his speech during the first session of the court the 40-year-old guard called “Novy chas” newspaper a fascist newspaper, and said that according to him, such newspapers had triggered the events in Ukraine. Meanwhile, he denied that he personally called Viktar Charavukhin a fascist. As Prokharau believes, the newspaper contains Fascist, Nazi and xenophobic materials.

Judge of Kastrychnitski court of Mahilyou Tatsyana Mikhajlava found the evidence of V. Charavukhin contradictory: according to the judge, it was not confirmed while the circumstances of the case were studied. At the same time, the judge came to a decision that Prokharau coherently confirmed that he had not called Charavukhin a fascist. In this way, the court found that the guilt of the guard for his insulting the activist had not been proven, and the lawsuit was dismissed.