29 March 2024, Friday, 10:26
Support
the website
Sim Sim,
Charter 97!
Categories

Hary Pahaniajla: Trial Of Palchys Should Be Public

3
Hary Pahaniajla: Trial Of Palchys Should Be Public
Hary Pahaniajla

The Minsk city court continues consideration of the criminal case of 1863h.com site editor and blogger Eduard Palchys for the fifth day.

The trial, as is known, takes place in camera.

“If the trial is closed for the public, there will be no confidence in the consideration of this matter, and in the decision that the court will take,” – lawyer of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee Hary Pahaniajla said to the site palitviazni.info.

We recall that Eduard Palchys is accused of committing a crime under Part 1 of Article 130 (incitement of racial, national or religious hatred) and Part 2 of Art. 343 (distribution of pornographic materials) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.

On August 25, 2016, the court of Tsentralny district of Minsk considered the case to recognize the products placed on the 1863h.com site as “extremist.” As a result of a closed court session, 9 articles, posted on this site, were recognized as “extremist.”

The Minsk city court started the consideration of “Palchys’ case” on 14 October.

Belarusian human rights activists have recognized Eduard Palchys as a political prisoner.

“The charge of inciting racial, national or religious hatred is a rare event in the Belarusian reality. Such cases are very few. Therefore, if it is a socially important issue, we need to publicize them and to work on prevention. And what happens here? It is strange that the trial of Eduard Palchys takes place in camera, and therefore human rights defenders, and the public are deprived of information. Those, who have previously visited the site, followed the publications, may still have some idea about the case. But it seems to me, most of the people do not realize that the publications contained signs of extremism,” – the human rights activist said.

According to the lawyer, there’s no information about who carried out the examination of the articles, which were recognized as extremist.

“We do not know whether they have enough experience and qualifications for this type of assessment, as the expert opinion will be considered in court as one of the most important proof of guilt, – he continues. – And we cannot even find out what criteria the so-called “experts” have taken as the basis for evaluating the site materials.”

Write your comment 3

Follow Charter97.org social media accounts