Preventive Supervision Lifted Off Pavel Vinahradau

Even the Belarusian regime didn’t dare to keep a citizen with an expired criminal record under supervision.

On September 13, the Maskouski district court of Minsk freed activist Pavel Vinahradau from the preventive supervision which had been imposed on him since June 7, 2016 under the reason of expiration of the criminal record term.

Pavel Vinahradau informed this on his Facebook page today.

“They lifted the supervision off me and they won’t impose it ever again (I will become a person free of criminal record in 12 hours), and we with the guys still invite you to the action”.

The activist noted that he hadn’t attended the court hearing but he knew the result would be in his favor and the supervision would be lifted, informs the human rights center “Viasna”.

“There were just a few hours left before expiration of the criminal record and they had no other option but to abolish the supervision. Even in such Wonderland as Belarus, a citizen cannot be under supervision if they have no criminal record. So I was 100% sure they would lift the preventive supervision off me today.”

Pavel Vinahradau’s expectations were confirmed when he saw the resolution of the court in the police department, where he was kindly invited by the inspector.

“I came there, saw the resolution – indeed, I was freed from preventive supervision by the Maskouski district court of Minsk today, which means, starting from today, I will not be under any supervision for a long time to come, maybe forever.”

The activist says he will do what he used to do before:

“So, we decided to hold an action with the guys. We scheduled it for 7 p.m. as now I can attend the actions which start this late.”

We remind, activist Pavel Vinahradau was twice convicted for the actions related to the opposition struggle. In 2008, he was sentenced to 2 years of forcible labor without sending to a specialized facility for participation in the rally of entrepreneurs in the Independence Square, and in 2011 - to 4 years in prison for participating in a rally to protest against falsifications during the "presidential elections" in 2010.

After 8 months of imprisonment Pavel Vinahradau was pardoned by Lukashenka, but upon release, preventive supervision was imposed on him for 3,5 years. During this period, the activist spent almost a year in Berazino, and then returned to Minsk in October 2015.

However, on June 7, Judge of the Maskouski district court of Minsk Maxim Sushko imposed new preventive supervision on Pavel Vinahradau, this time for 6 months.